The Zodiac Rangers Part 2: Just The Beginning
by Ashley Hammond Astro Yellow
Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long.
1. Prologue

_**Review Response What Was Lost:**_

_**Juzblue**: I won't get them married yet. Some time in the future when they've graduated from college._

_**Necroblade**: No, it is. Though I must tell you, people will know who the rangers are._

_**Arwennicole**: One yes. I sent you the link to the site. Hope it'll help you._

_**The-power-of-love**: Yesis counted. I'll be sending you the links._

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you liked it. Another yes, seems to me they'll end up staying together._

_**The real vampire**: Indecisive don't worry, I'll get a vote out of you somehow. :P Glad you liked the story._

_**DizneeDol**: I'll e-mail you the link, since fanfiction has a no-link-policy. Yes is counted._

_**Jenny**: I get a lot of review alerts of 1 kB, I'm glad when it's 2 kB, but you just beat them all with 3 kB. Your vote yes has been counted. I think I'll use your blabbing to get to the answer in my story, don't you think that would be nice? Oh, it's really no trouble letting you beta-read, you're the first beta-reader I can actually work with. When I sent a chapter to you in the evening, I can count on you to sent it back so I can update the next morning. Most beta-readers aren't so quick. So I should actually write a story for you for being such a wonderful beta-reader. You know, I think I'll do just that. I've got some standalone's waiting in line to be written anyway. Your review didn't bring a smile on my face… It put me in stitches. :P_

_**GreenDayfan1**: Yes it is. You'll be seeing a whole lot more of Ciana in this story, promise. All hale 'crtl-v'!_

_**Phantom Rogue**: Of course you were right. Don't you think Andros should get a change to at least see one kid grow up all the way? I'll just make a yes of your blabbing. I am **NOT** turning Mack evil, no way in hell._

_**AbareKiller**: Yes will be written down. Glad I got you interested for this part._

_**Gobball**: Long time no seen. :P Your vote yes is counted._

_**LucyE**: Nah, I wouldn't put this story to rest already after all those great reviews I got from all you guys. Why did Ashley name Ray, Ray. I've been waiting for someone to ask that question. It's actually quite simple, just like Aurora's name. Aurora was their precious little bundle of joy, bringing a light in their lives, both Aurora and Aileana mean light, so that's why she got her name, but that wasn't your question. Andros death put a shadow over Ashley's life. Then she found out about her second baby, a part of Andros growing inside her, his last gift to her, a small ray of hope in the dark times to come, therefore she named her baby boy Ray._

_Disclaimer: Not mine unless I tell you otherwise._

_A/N: I'm not even going to say it anymore._

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

**Just The Beginning**

**Prologue**

He watched the moon's surface rush at him - way too fast for his liking. Flames obscured his view for a moment as he entered the moon's atmosphere. As they cleared away he saw the surface again, much closer than before and still rapidly getting closer.

He knew how it was going to end and one tear escaped his eye, rolling down his cheek. He had been a great fighter and he would die as one should: in battle; but he didn't like it, nor want it. Ever since he met her, he imagined dying of old age, with his wife's loving face being his last conscious sight, not the rough, bare rocks of a moon, with him light-years away from his family.

In a desperate attempt to escape the pain, he used the only retreat he still knew; shutting down his consciousness.

"I'm sorry." He whispered before passing out, knowing what would happen next...

The cries of a baby reached his ears. What was going on? There was no way there was a baby aboard the ship with him. He sleepily opened one eye and everything came back to him.

He was at home, far away from the moon of Cratus, with Ashley nuzzled to his chest, still sleeping peacefully.

'Not for long.' His mind reminded him.

If he didn't answer to his daughter now, she would wake up the rest of his family too. Carefully he got out of bed, making sure not to wake up his love. He quickly slipped out of the room and across the hall into Aurora's old room.

He picked up his brand new baby girl of two weeks.

"It's okay, Ciana. Daddy's here."

The girl quieted and her cries turned into whimpering. An unpleasant smell reached his noise.

"Let's get you into a clean diaper before going to see if mommy left you a bottle, okay."

Ciana just kept whimpering and he smiled. Her dipper was changed quickly and he used his telekinesis to dispose of it, while walking out of the room with Ciana to get her bottle. Once fed and burped, he rocked her back to sleep and placed her in her crib again, brushing some of her soft brown locks out of her face.

He kept staring at her for some time, until he felt two arms slip around his waist. Looking behind him, he smiled when he saw Ashley. She moved to his side, keeping one arm around him. He put an arm around her as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"You should be sleeping." He whispered.

"You were gone." She replied, no louder than he had spoken.

"I was just enjoying my daughter for a moment."

"A long moment." Ashley retorted and pulled back, giving him a soft tug. "Let's go back to bed. She'll be there in the morning."

"She's so … small."

Ashley giggled.

"She shouldn't have been born for another two weeks; of course she's tiny."

Andros chuckled and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"You're right, bed it is."

A/N: Well, that's the start. I won't be able to update tomorrow, for I'll be spending the 'night' at a friend's.

**Okay people, listen up**: We've got another birthday today, this time it's GreenDayfan1's. Now be nice reviewers and wish her a happy birthday. I dedicated this chapter to her and hope she'll have many more birthdays to come where I can dedicate a chapter or standalone to her.


	2. Chapter 1

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: Glad you like the start._

_**Necroblade**: Don't worry. I think this fic will move fast._

_**Arwennicole**: Glad you like it. I totally agree with you thing are now as they should be, Andros even has a change to see at least one kid grow up from baby to teen._

_**The real vampire**: Some one else to come along to catch Aurora's interest? Competition for Mack? I like the idea. I'll go squeeze my brain out for another guy._

_**Jenny**: Another review of 3 kB, please, do continue. It's fun. What you said about Mirror Mirror: I WAS NICE TO ANDROS THIS TIME, I only gave him three kids, I used to give him FOUR and THREE of them were boys. Still, I think he would faint if he found out, especially since Ashley's their mother. Oh, and you're not crazy, I am, but then again, who cares? I know I don't. I'm happy. See me smile? CHEESE! Oh, and about your e-mail. As much as I want to say do the sequel, you should go with the new story you're already writing, just to bug me. :P_

_**AbareKiller**: Glad you like the nightmare thingy. I figured those eleven years of being a slave can't not leave him without emotional scares. (Of course Ashley will heal them. Hint, hint.)_

_**The-power-of-love**: No prob._

_**Phantom Rogue**: See, told you I'd update. Now it's your turn again. :P_

_**DizneeDol**: I'm obsessed too, so I'd have to be suing myself first. Glad you like it._

_**TrueRomantic**: Wait, you mean you read the whole thing without a break or something? Wow, now that's something writers want to hear, their stories being addictive. :P Hope to see more of your reviews in the future._

_**GreenDayfan1**: Taking reviewing lessons from Jenny? You're at the 3 kB too. It was fun reading it, put a smile on my face. I'm glad you like my birthday present to you, even though you already knew it was coming. I think we all have a right to be hyper on our birthdays. A whole page full of 'thank you's, sounds like fun. Hope you had a happy birthday._

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you like it. Catch you on the flip side._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 1**

Chaitlin sighed as she looked out of the control-room's window into the Simuroom at NASADA. Across the room Aurora sat cross-legged on the ground, her brand new laptop placed on her lap, a cable connecting it to the Simuroom's control panel next to her.

A small distance away Ray was fighting a group consisting of all evil minions the Power Rangers ever had to face, plus some Craterites. Even without a morph he was holding out perfectly fine, even beating them.

It was painfully clear that both him and Aurora were strong fighters, the age difference doing nothing to keep them from being almost equally excellent fighters, even without them morphing.

In all honesty, nobody had seen his or her morphs yet. Blaecleah hadn't attacked since before she had been reunited with her cousin and it worried her, but what worried her more was that Aurora and Ray still kept a distance between them and the team.

Everyone was present at the NASADA-base at the moment. It had become their unofficial Command Centre - getting there wasn't hard, since their powers allowed them to teleport wherever they wanted – and nobody seemed to be protesting. Still, Aurora had asked Ray to come try out her new training-program, no one else.

"Hey."

She looked up and saw her father standing in the doorway.

"Hey." She replied with a small smile.

"What are you doing here? The other's are outside enjoying the sun."

"I don't know." Chaitlin sighed.

Zhane looked through the window at his nephew and niece and put an arm around his daughter.

"Does them being together bother you so much?"

"No… but uncle Andros has been back almost nine months now and they still prefer each other's company over ours."

"Can you blame them? What's nine months compared to eleven years, Chaitlin? Just give them some time, they'll come round."

"But dad…"

"No buts. If they're anything like their parents, they'll pull through when you need them. They just don't know if they can trust you."

"Of course they can!" Chaitlin protested.

"Tell me how they could possibly know that, Chaitlin."

"I… I don't know."

"Right, there hasn't been a fight or anything in which you could all prove yourselves. Ray and Aurora know each other. I've seen them fighting together. They know how the other fights and that makes them able to fight together flawlessly. They don't have that with you guys… yet."

"You really believe we'll have that too?"

"That's what being a team is about. When Carlos, Cassie, TJ and Ashley met Andros, they knew nothing about him, no how he fought, nothing and they ended up fighting together like a great team."

"Aunt Ashley even married him," Chaitlin pointed out, beginning to grin, and Zhane let out a laugh.

"I don't think anyone knows him as well as Ashley."

"Nor would they want to," Chaitlin added innocently, a mischievous smile still creeping it's way onto her face.

"Watch it." Zhane laughed. "Someone just might take it the wrong way."

"I will." She said and hugged her father. "Thanks dad, you're the best."

Zhane smiled and hugged Chaitlin back.

"Glad I could help."

In the Simuroom, Aurora looked up at the control-room and spotted Chaitlin and her uncle. Ray had just finished testing the simulation and an idea popped into her head.

"_Hey Chaitlin?"_

"_Yeah?"_ In the control-room Chaitlin turned to look at her.

"_Wanna try out my new training simulation?"_

"_Sure."_

"_I'm not sure how strong you are, so we'll start out on a low level. Just let me know if it's too easy and I'll put it on a higher level, okay?"_

"_Sounds great."_

Even from this distance she could see her cousin beam and she smiled. This might just be the way to get to know the other rangers.

A/N: Sorry I took me so long to write this. I needed a small break from writing, just so I could get what I want to do with this story into my head. I figure most of it out, but I think the updating will be slow, but we won't know until we find out, will we?

Anyway, hoped you liked it. Please, I'm begging you to review.


	3. Chapter 2

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Phantom Rogue**: I can update, just not too fast. :P Of course the story's awesome, I'm writing it. Okay, now it's starting to smell here. Fix that computer of yours, 'cause I want an update:D_

_**TrueRomantic**: Like your idea, but if I use it Ashley will have to sit it out, since she just had a baby._

_**Necroblade**: Much more happening in this chapter. Sorry for the long wait, read the A/N at the end for the explanation._

_**DizneeDol**: Glad you like it._

_**Arwennicole**: They'll come around very soon. There's one person on the bigger part of the team Aurora does trust no matter what and that'll help bringing the team together._

_**Juzblue**: I'm hoping to get more time to update very soon. After this one, just two more weeks of school and hopefully I'm off then._

_**The real vampire**: Nah, no ranger for Aurora, but it does give me an idea._

_**Jenny**: Go take reviewing lessons from GreenDayfan1, she sent me a review of 5 kB._

_**GreenDayfan1**: 5 kB! Wow. I'm flabbergasted. I don't know what to say, but I'll try. I'm hyper too and I don't even need coffee or staying up late to do so. Yeah, Zhane's cute with Chaitlin, I myself love the way it turned out. I'm glad I can put a smile on your face and brighten your day, it's nice to know that power still exists. Everybody I know is crazy, it runs in my family. :P You know, I'm going to print your review out and put the 'thank-you's in a frame on my room._

_**Jenny**: Okay, not in the order you reviewed, but I needed to respond to GreenDayfan1 first. :P Now onto your review: Nah, you're not an idiot, I am. Cool smily gallery and the price to get in. ;) I never said Aurora didn't know she can trust Chaitlin, she's just scared to get hurt again. No, you were not boring me, please continue, I love to kill people for putting on the pressure on me too. And last about your question in the e-mail. Yes, it's that story, alright._

_**Ghostwriter**: But I love to beg. :( Catch ya on the flip side._

_**The-power-of-love**: Sorry for not updating soon. I'm looking forward to your next update. _

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 2**

Stepping out of the college building, she felt a smile creep on her face. A few hundred meters away she had spotted Mack. She quickly said goodbye to her classmates and walked over to him. He noticed her when she was just five meters away from him. He grinned and spread his arms; she dropped her bag and jumped into his offered hug, placing a soft kiss on his lips.

"Missed you." She told him.

"Missed you too. How was class?"

"Dull, as always. Yours?"

"Boring as hell without you."

Aurora's smile brightened and she stepped out of his embrace, picking up her bag again and walking to the campus exit. Mack quickly fell into step beside her.

"So where are we going?" He asked.

"The park, Surf Spot… if we're lucky we could catch an afternoon movie."

"Movie sounds good." Mack agreed, draping his arm around her shoulder.

They just reached the parking lot when some very ugly aliens appeared, surrounding them.

"What are those?" Mack exclaimed.

"Doesn't matter. Can you fight?" Aurora asked, afraid she'd have to defend both of them.

"I didn't take martial arts classes for nothing." Mack replied.

"Good, better put them to use then." Aurora told him and plunged forward to one of the aliens.

The alien stretched out his arms, but she somersaulted over him. The moment her feet were back on the ground again, she kicked the alien in the back, sending it flying to the ground. Another alien threw a number of attacks at her, which she expertly dodged, catching its arm in the process. In one fluent movement she turned her back to the alien and threw it over her shoulder. It didn't take long for her to fall into a pattern of kicking, spinning, dodging, blocking, punching and blocking again.

She was losing; she knew it, being on the defence more than on the offence. Suddenly twelve multicoloured streaks of light appeared, turning into twelve rangers, taking on the aliens.

"Aurora! Morph!" A familiar voice yelled.

She looked around and spotted a ranger dressed in silver, red and golden ninja-robes. For some reason you couldn't see where one colour started and another stopped. She looked at the ranger in awe for a moment.

"AURORA!" The ranger yelled.

Ray's voice echoed through her head, snapping her out of her daze. As if she had been doing it all her life, she went through the movements of morphing.

"ZODIAC POWER UP, CANCER!" Aurora called.

She felt the power rush through her veins, as she closed her eyes and turned her head upwards, her arms slightly spread at her sides. (A/N: Think Andros battlized morphing, without the groaning and terrible face. :P)

When the rush of power stopped she opened her eyes she looked at her hands. Gloves covered them and her hood lined the edge of her vision. Her suit was coloured both yellow and red - and like Ray's robes, you couldn't see where the colour shifted.

"Alright, let's see what you can do now." She grinned.

The aliens had surrounded her and attacked all at once. It amazed her how her how her speed and strength had increased by at least ten times. Now she had no trouble at all knocking the aliens to the ground. She noticed Mack being in trouble and somersaulted over a group of aliens to help him out. She quickly dealt with the aliens attacking her boyfriend, creating a small opening between battles.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Aurora?"

"That's my name." She giggled and he shot her a quick smile.

"That outfit looks great on you." He called after her when she went to meet the next wave of aliens coming at them.

Soon the aliens had been defeated and Aurora pulled her hood down.

"Everyone okay?" She called to her teammates.

"Fine." The all replied.

Mack walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Cool." He whispered in her ear. "My girlfriend is a Power Ranger."

Aurora smiled and leaned against him.

"Well, I'm glad that's over with." Ray spoke, pulling down his hood too.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, ranger." A crackling voice replied.

A/N: I'm really, really sorry for not updating so soon. School really is a murder. Soon I'll have my first year finished though, so I'll soon have more time. Hope you liked it. Review!


	4. Chapter 3

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: And I updated again today! How good those it get?_

_**Necroblade**: I'll keep up my work if you keep reviewing. :P I'm so lucky school's almost over._

_**The-power-of-love**: I didn't say you had to update right now. :P Just said I'm looking forward to the moment you do._

_**TrueRomantic**: The other former rangers will surely make an appearance, I can tell you that. Maybe not all, but Tommy and Kim will surely. And about Ashley sitting it out, sure she could say getting rid of pregnancy fat, but her baby was born too early and my Andros is way to overprotective of her right now to let her do that. :P_

_**Jenny**: Of course your reviews are satisfactory, you reached the 4 kB today. Please don't cry, you know we all love you. I don't care your reviews hardly tell me anything about what you think of my story, your willingness to beta-read AND review tells me enough and you blabbing is always able to put a smile on my face, even when I'm down. About men never saying that stuff, I DIDN'T, that was Zhane and Zhane can only talk from his point of view. There was some true stuff in there, but since he doesn't know how Aurora and Ray feel, he just made up a lot to make Chaitlin feel better. I love smilies too. Maybe my Andros' will wasn't broken because of Aurora, who knows._

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you like it. Catch ya on the flip side._

_**LucyE**: I don't think I'll let my rangers hide their identity, it's much easier if others can know and it wouldn't be hard to guess since their parents were rangers too._

_**Melissa/GreenDayfan1**: Were you by any change hyper when you wrote that review? You're on 4 kB with your review now, you falling back. :( I always imagine Zhane making a great dad, funny, but serious when he needs to be. Yeah, Mack and Aurora are cute together, but they're doomed to have some problems in their future. :P The longer the review the happier I am._

_**Phantom Rogue**: I think a lot of my other readers are hitting themselves for not seeing the obvious colours Aurora was going to be, if you keep something simple and obvious, mostly people will forget that option exists too. _

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 3**

The rangers spun around to see a new monster. He was dressed in a dentist outfit, but looked almost human – save for the large drill he led menacingly in his hands.

"You wouldn't happen to have any holes in your teeth now would you?" He asked, followed by a maniacal laughter.

"We're not scared of you." Ray yelled, though inwardly he trembled slightly.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." The monster replied.

Aurora looked at her teammates and saw Megan was softly shaking, trying not to run. Eshla was standing next to her, a hand on her little sister's shoulder.

"Megan is afraid of the dentist." She answered Aurora's silent question when she noticed Aurora looking.

Aurora let out a quiet sigh.

"Anyone else?"

No one answered.

"Good."

Suddenly the monster charged at Megan, its drill raised. Megan froze, her eyes wide as she watched the drill.

"Twin blade!" Two voices cried as the monster brought its drill down.

Mere inches from impact the drill stopped, hitting the crossed blades of Dakota's and Kayla's weapons instead.

"Cancer sabre." Aurora said softly, her sabre appearing in her hand.

She raised her weapon as she charged, slashing the monster's back. He roared in pain and spun around, going for Aurora only to be blown off course by a beam of water. Aurora looked in the direction the water had come from and saw Dymphna's sparkling eyes behind the mask of her robes.

"High pressured water gun." Dymphna told her, a grin obvious in her voice.

The monster got back to its feet and charged at Megan once again, but got caught in a bubble and was lifted off the ground, rising higher and higher.

"Gotta love that bubble gun." Murtagh laughed, chortling at the monster's expense.

A bit too early though, for the monster used its drill to break the bubble and came crashing down to earth. The moment his feet hit the ground, however, two disks hit him, slashing across the chest. The disks returned to where they came from and Ray caught them, throwing them again, but this time the monster dodged and again went for Megan, who still hadn't moved from her spot.

This went on for a long time until the monster was summoned back.

"To base, NOW!" Aurora ordered, anger in her voice.

The rangers teleported away, but Aurora stayed and turned to Mack.

"Sorry, but our afternoon together is off."

Mack walked over to her and hugged her.

"The Earth is more important." He assured her. "Go to your team."

Aurora hesitated and looked him in the eye.

"Wanna come?"

"What!"

"Wanna come with me? At least then we'll be able to be together and if this doesn't take to long, we might still have time for the Surf Spot or the park, but we'll never be able to catch a movie now."

"Sure."

Aurora smiled, took his hand and teleported away. Once at the NASADA base she turned to Mack again.

"You go in, I have something to take care off, I'll be right there."

Mack nodded and went in. The rangers were talking – though they had demorphed. As he scanned the room he found Ray hadn't mingled with his teammates and just listened to them an unreadable expression on his face. Without too much thought, Mack walked over to the boy. Ray silently greeted him, but kept his eyes on his teammates, focusing on their conversation.

"She sounded totally pissed," Kayla said quietly.

"But it's not Megan's fault! She just can't help it!" Reese half yelled.

That went on for a while until the doors of the room opened again and Aurora appeared, a face of stone.

"Megan, a word please." She said, standing in the door-opening.

"You can't punish her for having a fear, Aurora!" Eshla said angrily, her eyes narrowing.

"Megan." Aurora said, ignoring Eshla.

Megan hung her head and slowly walked over to Aurora, following her out of the room.

"I swear, if Megan returns crying, Aurora is dead. Who does she think she is?" Eshla growled.

"Our leader?" Abigail tried.

"Well, I say we need to vote who's our leader. It's unfair to us to just point one out." Reese hissed.

"I say Chaitlin should be out leader again." Anlon stated, his voice heavy with disappointment at Aurora.

The other rangers, with the exception of Chaitlin, Kayla, and Dakota, made sounds of agreement.

"I hope you know what your doing, Rora." Mack heard Ray mutter beside him and he couldn't help but agreeing.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Review.


	5. Chapter 4

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: Glad you like it._

_**Necroblade**: Nah, Aurora doesn't have any trouble being the leader. She just has her own way of being it. I guess you'll have to keep reviewing, for I won't stop writing just yet._

_**TrueRomantic**: Just read what Aurora's going to do._

_**The-power-of-love**: Yeah, well, it better be summer soon._

_**Jenny**: Two reviews of 2 kB::raises an eyebrow: You still don't know what I'm going to do with the next chapter, so there's still hope that's going to happen. :P The tension between the two parts of the team will be solved individually for every ranger, so it'll take a while. The rangers needed to prove themselves, but now it's the Aurora and Ray's turn. I hope you don't really believe the Zodiac rangers will believe Aurora this happened. I see you couldn't resist the urge to put some blabbing in the review. YAY!_

_**Melissa**: I know more lazy people who don't want to log in to review. Me for instance. I always imagine Zhane being great with kids, so I made him a great dad. Yes, Mack and Aurora will have some problems in the future, but I'm not saying they're going to break up because of it. Well, here's the next update._

_**Ghostwriter**: Yeah, I know everyone has fears and I'm using mine right now. Yes, I'll admit it; I'll turn 18 at the end of this months and still I'm afraid of the dentist. I didn't used to be afraid, but then I got an infected tooth and it was killing me, so now I'm scared of him._

_**Jedi Takeru**: Sorry to say this, but Enterprise sucks, Star Gate's much better and Star Wars (still have to go to the movie though) I'll be focusing more on the Zodiac rangers in this fic, the other was more of a introduction._

_**Phantom Rogue**: You, Melissa and Jenny are ganging up on me aren't you? All three of you sent me a review of 4 kB. Go read and see how bad Aurora is. Ciana isn't going to become a ranger, but I do have an idea for her. Oh, and Aurora isn't perfect, you'll see later on…_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 4**

Megan walked quietly behind Aurora. After a minute Aurora stopped and turned around to face Megan. Panicking, Megan felt the urge to defend herself.

"I'm sorry Aurora. I- I didn't mean for this to happen. I really did want to fight, but… I just couldn't. I don't _want_ to be afraid; it's a stupid fear, really, but…"

Aurora held up her hands to silence the girl.

"I'm not mad, Megan and it's not a stupid fear. I understand. I'll be honest with you; you're not the only one with that fear. I was afraid of the dentist for a while too."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Aurora smiled softly, before holding out her hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Megan asked.

"You'll see… trust me?"

Megan was shocked by the request. Aurora had never asked anyone but Ray to trust her - even though Ray always did blindly. Looking at Aurora's offered hand just a moment longer, she took it.

The moment the two hands met, a teleportation light surrounded them. When it cleared, Megan looked at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Where are we?"

"Crystal Springs," Aurora replied as she walked over to a white building.

Megan followed her, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the sign next to the door Aurora was now holding open for her.

'J. O'Connell, dentist.'

Aurora must have noticed something was wrong, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Trust me." She said again and reluctantly Megan followed her.

The dentist's secretary looked up and smiled.

"Go on in." She said. "He's waiting for you."

"Thanks." Aurora replied and took Megan's shoulders, gently guiding her into the dentist's room.

"Hey Aurora." The dentist greeted.

"Hey Jack, thanks again for squeezing me in."

"It's no problem, so this is the girl you were telling me about?"

"Yeah, Megan, this is Jack O'Connell, Jack, Megan Johnson." Aurora introduced. "Jack has been so kind as to reschedule my check-up appointment of next week to today."

Jack smiled.

"Why don't you go brush your teeth while I'll take care of Megan?"

"Sure." Aurora replied and walked over to a sink where a bunch of band new toothbrushes lay.

She picked up a red with yellow one, applied the toothpaste and started to brush her teeth, watching Megan and Jack.

Jack had sat down on his chair and was showing Megan all instruments he used, explaining what they were for, being very kind and patient with Megan. She remembered when her parents had taken her here. She had been kicking and screaming and generally creating a lot of havoc just so she just didn't have to go the dentist. Jack had helped her over her fear and she hoped he would now do the same for Megan.

After brushing her teeth, she walked over to Jack and Megan and took place in the dentist's chair. Whiled checking for any holes, Jack was still explaining what he was doing to Megan who was looking over his shoulder into Aurora's mouth.

When she was able to talk again, a devilish grin spread on Aurora's face.

"So what's the diagnose, doc. Are my teeth going to die soon?"

Jack laughed and shook his head.

"No, you've been a good girl. There are no holes in there. Except the really big one that should be there."

Megan giggled as Aurora got out of the chair. They were just about to leave when Jack held them back. He picked up a lavender/blue toothbrush and tossed it to Megan together it with a lollypop for both of the girls.

"Thanks Jack, see you in half a year." Aurora greeted.

"By Jack, thanks for everything."

When they were standing back outside, Megan turned to Aurora.

"You know, now I can't even remember why I was so afraid of the dentist!" She giggled slightly before adding with a bright smile, "Thanks Aurora."

"No problem, kiddo." Aurora replied and held out her hand again. "Friends?"

Megan nodded violently, placing her hand in Aurora's again as the teleported back.

A/N: You didn't really think Aurora would be mad at Megan, did you? She's smarter than that. Hope you liked the chapter. Review. Oh and please note: It's a waste of time to learn your mobile phone how to swim. It's going to drown no matter what.


	6. Chapter 5

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: Glad you liked it. Enjoy this chapter._

_**Arwennicole**: That's okay, I think everyone has problems with tests and finals at the moment. I know I have._

_**Melisa**: No prob, everybody has a right to be lazy every once in a while. You know, I'm actually scared of the dentist too. You know, my phone dropped out of my pocket into the toilet too, it drowned._

_**LucyE**: Sorry I made you wait._

_**Jenny**: Teach, learn, what's the difference, the thing drowned and I had to get a new one. Strange way to face your fear? Yeah, you're right, but it worked! I'll let you know, the rangers aren't finished with Aurora yet and neither am I. AAAAAAHHHHH, a conspiracy! Wait, I'm part of a conspiracy now too. I'll keep my mouth shut. Yeah, school's almost over; FINALLY!_

_**The-power-of-love**: Well, you're 17 now! Just like me. Only I'll be 18 soon. Yay for me!_

_**TrueRomantic**: Yes, the other rangers will make a brief appearance in this story again. You don't have to doubt that. Yes, they will have kids too. I just can't promise all those pairings will come past, but some will._

_**Phantom Rogue**: Don't go to people who are paid to hear what you're scared off, tell me will help the other rangers with their fears. I need ideas people. Got some, but I NEED MORE! Andros and Ashley taking Aurora to the dentist, come on people, close your eyes and see it, it's cute. For all I know I've been going to the dentist forever. You might be crazy, but I'm a loony!_

_**Ghostwriter**: Don't ask me, maybe I CAN trick my readers! Cool._

_**The real vampire**: Like I told Arwennicole; no sweat, I've got the same problem. Hope your hand is better, else you might want to put it on ice._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 5**

When Aurora and Megan entered the rangers' common room at the NASADA-base again, Aurora immediately noticed something was wrong.

"Megan." Eshla called, holding out her hand to her sister.

Megan shot Aurora a scared look, but walked over to her sister, to be wrapped into an embrace. It didn't stop Megan from noticing the glares Aurora was receiving, though. If Aurora noticed, she didn't let it know and just kept quiet, waiting for the bomb to burst.

"Who do you think you are?" Anlon snarled.

"Yeah." Reese agreed. "How dare you treat us like that? Treat Megan like that!"

"We've been talking…" Kagan started.

"And decided we don't want you as our leader." Abigail finished.

"We're not sure we even want you on our team." Murtagh added with a glare.

"Yeah, we were doing perfectly fine without you." Dymphna agreed.

"There's the door." Eshla pointed. "Make sure we don't see you here again."

"But Eshla…" Megan started.

"Don't worry Megan, we know what we're doing."

"But… But..."

"It's your call. It's not as if we asked for you guys to come back in our life." Aurora shrugged. "Come on, Ray, Mack, we're out of here."

"I still have to do some homework anyway," Ray replied, getting up, a seemingly unfazed look on his face.

"Give everyone at home a kiss for me." Aurora told him, before Ray teleported away.

Then she held her hand out to Mack, teleporting them to his car the moment his hand touched hers.

"Are you sure this is wise?" He asked, unlocking his car so they could get in.

"They don't know me. If they judge this quickly, then yeah, it's wise. Let them struggle for a while; they'll see they're wrong sooner or later. Now how 'bout we go get something to eat at the Surf Spot? I'm starving."

Knowing Aurora didn't want to talk about what just happened anymore he smiled.

"Why not, tomorrow we'll be eating dinner at home again, so we might as well make this one worthwhile. When's your first class tomorrow?"

Aurora giggled and smacked him softly on the back of his head.

"Not until the afternoon, silly. As a good boyfriend you should know by now."

"Good, mine too. Since we've missed the afternoon show, how about we catch a movie after dinner?"

"Sounds good."

Mack gave her a quick kiss before starting the car and pulling off the students' parking lot. It didn't take them long to get to the Surf Spot. They got out of the car and started walking to the entrance. The building seemed to be bigger than on the pictures Ashley had shown Aurora and as much as she hated to admit it, this was the first time since coming to Angel Grove that Aurora had gone to the Surf Spot.

She had already been going to college for two months and yet, she hadn't found the time before to go to the Surf Spot. Not too surprisingly though. The weather had been great the past two months, so most of their free time, she and Mack had spent on the beach at the lake.

"Hey Aurora!" A call caught their attention.

A few of Aurora's classmates were seated at one of the picnic tables outside and one of the boys was motioning for them. Aurora gave a slight tug on Mack's arm and walked them both over.

"Hey, Collin. What's up?" She asked casually.

"Nothing, just wondered if you and your friend wanted to join us," Collin replied, glancing briefly at Mack.

"Boyfriend." Mack grumbled softly.

"I don't know…" Aurora said thoughtfully, having heard Mack's grumbling.

"Oh, come on." Collin coaxed.

"Maybe some other time." Mack said quickly, noticing Aurora was really thinking about it, but didn't want to ditch him.

"Okay, but don't say we didn't ask you." Collin shrugged.

"Why'd you do that?" Aurora asked softly as they walked back to the entrance.

"I wanted to have dinner, just you and me. Is it so bad I want to spent some time alone with my girlfriend?"

Aurora shook her head slightly, a small smile growing on her face. Mack sighed softly in relief, knowing he got away with it this time.

"Aurora?" A voice asked suddenly.

"Aurora Hammond?" The person repeated, slight awe creeping into it.

Aurora and Mack turned around to see a man in his late thirties watching them. He had brown hair and greyish-blue eyes. A boy was standing next to him, looking at the man strangely. Aurora guessed he was no older than 16.

"Excuse me?" Aurora asked politely, a little annoyed at the interruption.

"Are you Aurora Hammond?" The man asked again, the boy looking at them curiously.

"Well, yeah. Do I know you?"

"No, no… you don't. But you should've. My name is Jeff Hammond, I believe you're my niece."

All colour drained from Aurora's face.

A/N: HAHA! Did it again. I love cliffies! Hope you liked it. Review, or I won't update. :P


	7. Chapter 6

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Phantom Rogue**: Jeff will tell his story in this chapter. You decided if it was fair or not. Clowns should be a fun fear, now I just have to pick a ranger to give it to. If things were ever easy for Rora, I wouldn't have a story! Not only is she technically the red ranger, she's the eldest by two years, in this case, that matters too._

_**The real vampire**: Feel free to punch them, maybe they'll learn something from it. Yay, your hand is better, I know how annoying test can be that make you write a lot._

_**Juzblue**: Jeff is going to explain what happened now, so you don't have to re-read the story if you don't want to._

_**John Cena's Basketball Star**: Glad you like the story. Aurora's life isn't easy, but she'll survive, I promise._

_**Arwennicole**: Yeah, I promised an interesting meeting, didn't I? You guys are going to decide how Andros and Ashley react, check the poll at the end of the chapter._

_**DizneeDol**: Well, I love them, just to irritate you all and make sure you come back to read the next chapter._

_**Jenny**: I'll live, just as long as you keep writing. You might want to stop taunting my readers. That might be why you get so little reviews. Oh, and please don't hide behind my stories again, you might get them damaged!_

_**LucyE**: Well, I did, but then again, I'm writing the story. How they find out Aurora is a good leader? Well, you'll just have to wait a bit longer for that. Hope you sleep alright so you are a wake enough to review now. :-P_

_**Melissa**: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, please forgive me. Hope you have a great time in Florida._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 6**

"Your… your niece?" Aurora asked breathlessly.

"Dad, what are you talking about? The boy asked the man.

"Um, do you have time to talk?" Jeff asked Aurora.

Aurora looked at Mack, remembering what he just said.

"Hey, we still have the movie." Mack shrugged then turned to Jeff. "We were about to have dinner, why don't you join us?"

Jeff nodded.

"I see. So were we. My daughter should be just about finished with her gymnastics lessons by now. My wife's doing the evening shift at her work and I'm not a great cook, so I was planning on making it myself easy and just have dinner while picking up my girl."

A small smile appeared on Aurora's lips.

"So, why don't we go in?" Mack suggested.

They nodded and walked through the doors. Jeff suddenly noticed the looks Aurora was shooting to the boy next to him.

"Oh, how stupid of me. This is my son Jake."

"Hi." Aurora greeted

"Hi." Jake replied.

They sat down at a table and Aurora looked around. It looked different from how her mother had described it; she had expected it to be smaller. Jeff must have noticed her surprise.

"The Surf Spot has grown a little since your mom last came here. The original owner, Ernie, returned and is now running this place with Adele, but he insisted on having a youth centre again, so they expended."

Aurora nodded as a dark woman walked over to take their order.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" She smiled as she looked at Aurora. "You wouldn't happen to be Andros' daughter, now would you? I'm Adele." The woman said, holding out her hand.

"Aurora Hammond." Aurora replied, shaking Adele's hand. "Yes, Andros is my father."

"It shows." Adele smiled warmly. "So what can I get you?"

"Five burgers and some fries to go with them." Jeff answered.

"Five burgers and fries coming right up." Adele nodded.

When she walked away again Jeff turned to Aurora.

"I guess I should start explaining, right?"

"That would be nice." Aurora replied.

"Okay, well, I guess it all starts when you mother told us she was pregnant. Our parents were convinced she was too young to have a baby and tried to force her to have an abortion, but she refused, telling us she and your father were going to get married and take care of you. When our dad asked what she was planning to do concerning college, she told us she was going to keep going. Our mom told her college and a baby didn't go together, but your mother wouldn't listen. She was told that if she walked out the door, she wouldn't have to come back until she had come to her senses and got rid of you. She left and we didn't hear from her for seven months. Then came the birth announcement of an Aurora Hammond, daughter of Andros and Ashley Hammond and she was proving us wrong, for your mother could handle being married, a baby and college at once. I wanted to make up, for she had sent us a chance to. I wanted to see my baby niece whom obviously made my baby sister unbelievably happy, but my parents forbid me. If I went, I didn't have to come back either. Your mother had chosen a new insecure life over her old stable one, had chosen you and your father over us. I was never as strong as your mother. I was twenty-one when you were born, but I still didn't dare to defy my parents. I did sent a card though, but I didn't sign it. I realised the mistake I made by not going when I met Michelle, my wife, just before finishing college. You were a year old by then and it was too late for me to make up with your mother. A year later we got married, against my parents will, and another year later Jake was born. But I even though I finally defied my parents, I still didn't dare to face my sister. I don't know how many times I picked up the phone and dialled the number, only do put it down again immediately after I finished dialling."

Aurora bit her lip, considering what to say.

"Maybe…" She swallowed. "Maybe you should call. Life hasn't been very easy for us, but if she can forgive her friends after eleven years of silence, I'm sure she can forgive her own brother after nineteen years of the same. She really values family. I could talk to her before you call if you want to."

"Thank you, I would really appreciate that, but what do you mean life hasn't been easy? From the little I overheard from conversations of her friends while I was in college, there couldn't be a better set of parents than yours."

Aurora sighed.

"To keep a long story short, my dad went missing in action when I was six and a half. Everyone thought he was dead, but they were too caught up in their own grief to see us. Nine months later I get a brother and for eleven years the only ones we had contact with from the life before my dad died were his parents. Then eleven years later a slave planet was freed by the new ranger team and my dad turn out to be a slave there for eleven years. We got reunited, mom forgave her friends and now I have a baby sister of a month old."

A sad smile played on Jeff's lips and Jake was listening to both stories with wide eyes, obviously fascinated.

"What are their names?" Jeff asked, trying to keep his emotions under control.

"Ray and Ciana, I've got pictures if you want to see."

"I'd like that."

Aurora dug in her bag and fished out a small photo album containing pictures of her family, handing them over to Jeff. She smiled as she watched Jeff and Jake look at the pictures. She couldn't help but like her uncle. From all the stories she had heard from her mother, she had already concluded her mother and Jeff had been just as close as she and Ray and just listening to him tell his story, she knew he still loved his sister as much as he did back then.

Suddenly she noticed a young girl about the age of twelve walking over.

"Dad?" She asked uncertainly. "What's going on?"

A/N: Hope you liked it. Please review.

Poll: I'm holding another poll: Should Jeff contact Ashley or should he get to know Aurora better and know what happened in his sister's life first?


	8. Chapter 7

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Phantom Rogue**: I love the clown idea, just need to find a victim. Yes, Eshla is protective of Megan, but a little blinded by it. You'll just have to read to see what Jeff is going to do. Hope you like the chapter._

_**Juzblue**: Read and find out what Jeff is going to do._

_**Necroblade**: Oh, Mack and Aurora are in for a bumpy ride, that I promise you. It will start not long from now. Hope your exams went okay. It's good to have you back._

_**Arwennicole**: Read and find out what Jeff's going to do._

_**The real vampire**: Jeff is a great guy, really. His problem just is being a chicken too._

_**Jenny**: Okay, so I'm sure you wrote a really interesting review, making me laugh and all, but I really want to update right now, so uh… I'll go on now. Thanks for not hiding behind my stories anymore._

_**John Cena's Basketball Star**: It's okay, I couldn't choose either, so I put up the poll._

_**LucyE**: Jeff will stay in the story, promise. Hope your exam went okay and your back doesn't hurt anymore by now._

_**The-power-of-love**: Your idea sounds good. I'll see what I can do with it._

_**Melissa**: I wrote it right! I finally update again! Yay! Enjoy the chapter._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 7**

Jeff looked up to see his daughter staring at him from a small distance away, unsure if it was safe to approach.

"This is your cousin, Sarah. Aurora, meet my daughter: Sarah."

Aurora smiled and held out her hand.

"Hey, nice to meet you."

"Hi…" Sarah replied, quickly taking Aurora's hand before turning to Jeff again. "Is she Aunt Ashley's Aurora?"

"Yes, she is." Jeff smiled fondly, thinking of times past.

"Does that mean we get to meet Aunt Ashley?" Sarah asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure, sweetheart, but I hope it does."

"I know for sure mom would love to meet you and Jake." Aurora assured the girl, being met by a brilliant smile. "Uncle Jeff?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you by any chance been sending me unsigned birthday cards every year?"

"Yeah, no one ever found out though."

"Lucky you."

**An hour later**

Aurora sat in the car next to Mack to go to the movies. A big cheesy smile was plastered on her face and Mack grinned when he shot a quick look at her.

"Happy?" He guessed.

"What gave you the first clue?" Aurora joked back. "I never thought I'd ever meet my uncle."

"Well, you just did and he's going to call your mother to see if he can patch things up." Mack reminded her. "Maybe today wasn't that bad after all."

"I don't see what's so bad about today," Aurora laughed.

"You getting kicked of your team?"

Aurora grimaced a little before shrugging.

"It was bound to happen one day. We can't work together if we can't trust each other and it's obvious they don't trust me."

"But..."

"Mack, everything will work out just fine, trust me. I might not be part of the Zodiac team anymore, but I'm still a Zodiac ranger and I won't forsake my duties as a ranger just because I don't have a team. Anyway, Ray will always be on my side no matter what, so I won't have to fight alone."

"Thank god for your brother." Mack muttered.

"You worried about me?" Aurora teased.

"I can't help not to be." Mack replied as the pulled up into a parking space.

Aurora smiled and leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek.

"That's exactly the talk that made you get accepted by my dad."

"Isn't he a little bit over protective?" Mack inquired.

"Nah, he just doesn't want his angel to get hurt."

Mack laughed and got out. She followed and as he locked the car, Mack wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"There's no way in hell I would let you get hurt intentionally. So what movie you want to go to?"

"Does it matter?" Aurora asked innocently. "We both know we won't see half of the movie."

Laughing Mack bought two tickets and they entered the theatre.

Unknown to them they were being watched. A child was looking at them disappear from a playground not too far away. Once the two had disappeared into the building the child walked away into an empty ally. Checking to make sure no one was watching her, she closed her eyes and a faint light appeared around her. Blond curling locks started to uncurl and slowly darkened. The child was growing rapidly going for the age of five to eleven in mere seconds. When she opened her eyes again they had turned from bright blue to a unique hazel colour. Her hair was now soft brown and hung straight and loosely down just passed her shoulders.

She pulled a backpack from behind a few trashcans and opened it with a sigh, pulling out a jacket and a small devise. She made a face when she looked down at her clothes, which seemed to have grown with her. She pressed a button on her watch and her doll-like dress changed into a pair of jeans and a yellow T-shirt. Then she pulled out a necklace out of her pocket, a shard of crystal hanging on it in the form of a lightning bolt. She quickly slipped it around her neck. After she put on the jacket, she activated the devise.

"I seem to be at the right date alright. She just got kicked out of the team and ran into Jeff. All seems normal right now. I trust they'll be fine. I'll go to Crystal Springs now."

"Got it - and be careful, Gwyn. If you reveal too much you'll change everything."

"I'm not stupid." The girl replied. "But I'll be careful. I'll report in again in 24 hours."

"Good luck."

With that the connection was broken and the girl put the devise back in her backpack. Then she looked around and spotted a broken public phone just across the playground. It appeared hidden enough to be safe.

She nonchalantly walked over to it and looked around again. Nobody was looking at her, too caught up in their own life. She smiled and closed her eyes. Suddenly she was gone and a bolt of electricity disappeared into the phone travelling through the phone cables in the direction of Crystal Springs.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Phantom, if you know what's going on, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! To all others: Please review.

It's my birthday today people and this is MY birthday present to YOU. I'm 18!


	9. Chapter 8

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Phantom Rogue**: You don't know where the dead body thing came from? I'm very disappointed in you. I'll explain again… Uh… One minute… Oh grab, I forgot. Oh well. A late thank you for my birthday wish. Oh and 18 ain't stupid, okay? It's fun!_

_**TrueRomantic**: A late thank you to you too for wishing me a happy birthday. Tommy and Kimberly should make an appearance in the 10th chapter, I know now! Yay! And you know what? T/K are on the second place of my favourite ranger couples, they used to be no. 1 before A/A showed up._

_**Arwennicole**: Nope, the birthday wish was in time! I updated it the morning of my birthday (the 30th of June) so no worries there. Oh and you might want to take a look at the P.S. at the bottom of the chapter. I'm really hoping you'll enter something. You're always great with describing clothes. I hope you'll managed that next A/A fic and don't worry, you won't have to do without my writing for at least a short while._

_**The Real Vampire**: Only a year older? Wow, that's great! Mostly the age difference between me and my on-line buddies is bigger. They won't realize their mistake for a while yet, but that's another reason I entered the mystery person. Though it's not the first time she entered the story. More I won't say._

_**Juzblue**: Yeah, you're good. Gwyn is indeed from the future, but more I won't say, for now. Something bad happening? Just read and you'll know part._

_**Necroblade**: I indeed had a great day, thanks. She's from the future as I told Juzblue, but… She's not Aurora and Mack's daughter, but something close. You'll just have to figure out the rest yourself._

_**DizneeDol**: Not only can I legally drive once I get my drivers license now, but also I'M LEGALLY ALLOWED TO DRINK ANY ALCOHOLIC DRINK I WANT! Sometimes I do love living in the Netherlands. :-P Sorry I made you wait for this chapter._

_**LucyE**: Thanks for the happy birthday. I'll start with telling you the chapter you're waiting for is almost here. I'll be looking forward to your story. The girl? Well, I already admitted she was from the future, but she's not really here to change time as drastically as Chris on Charmed. Hope you didn't die waiting for this chapter. :-P_

_**Melissa**: Not only to you! To all my fans! And it's a great way to collect birthday wishes. :-P Makes you really feel wanted and loved, more than the normal birthday crowd anyway. The kid inside me will NEVER die! Pinky Swear!_

_**Fan**: I'll do all I can. Promise._

_**The-power-of-love**: Glad you liked the chapter, loved your updates too, as I told you in my reviews. :-P_

_**Jenny**: Do I even want to waste energy in replying? Yeah, I'm crazy enough to reply from some! Gwyn from the future? How dare you even guess! You're going to marry Wes and you're from the future yourself! How can you NOT know? Like I said before, no she's NOT Mack and Aurora's kid, but I believe I pointed out who she really is to you, just like I did Phantom, though she was in on this from the beginning. DON'T KILL ME! So, I replied, NEXT!_

_**Demon Child From Hell**: Hey, you here? Oh well, any review is welcome. That review of fearing clowns might have come from you sister, so of course it's good! You know any nice fears? (Don't kill me, Phantom, please don't)_

_**Ghostwriter**: Sorry I made you wait. Don't kill me. Catch ya on the flip side._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 8**

The day had passed slowly for Aurora – each tick of the clock made her impatience grow. She was entirely glad and relieved when she walked out of the dormitory with her duffel bag over her shoulder, and a smile on her face. A car slowly slid up, honked at her, and she grinned, nearly skipping over.

"So, ready to go home?" Mack asked as she climbed in shotgun.

"Hell, yeah. I've had it with college right now."

Mack laughed and put the car in gear, driving away. They talked happily as Mack drove through Angel Grove. As the traffic light changed from crimson, to green, Aurora looked at him smiling; she was so lucky to have him, so lucky to be a part of his life. Her smile changed into a face of horror though as she watched a small truck come their way, ignoring the red light.

"MACK!" She screamed.

Mack quickly hit the brakes, but it was too late. As her head hit the dashboard, the last thing she heard before her world went dark was the loud clang of metal hitting metal and a distant scream of pain.

**Crystal Springs**

Andros smiled as he opened the front door. His grin slowly faded when there was no sound of movement. Normally Ray would run over to greet him and Ashley wouldn't be far behind, following at a slower pace.

Carefully he walked further into the house, not sure what to expect. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when he found Ashley in the living room, sitting on the couch, starring into oblivion with the cordless phone in her limp hands. He walked over and kneeled in front of her.

"Hey, anyone home?" He asked softly.

She seemed to have to pull her mind from somewhere behind the moon, but when her eyes focused on him, she smiled.

"I didn't hear you come in," she explained softly.

"I noticed," he laughed. "Where's Ray?"

"Uh…" She sighed softly, her eyes livening slightly.

"He's at a friend's home – for the day." She finally answered, placing a kiss on his lips.

"So we're home alone." Andros deducted with a knowing smile.

"Until Ciana wakes up." she retorted, the hints of a smile quivering on her lips.

He chuckled and sat down next to her, placing his arms around her and leaning back against the armrest. Ashley sighed softly and leaned against him.

"So, what's wrong?" he asked, probing her.

"Jeff called." Ashley whispered, seeming too weary to keep anything in. "He ran into Aurora. You know, it was him sending those unsigned cards."

"So, what did he want?" Andros inquired curiously.

"To be my brother again." Ashley sighed sadly.

"And…?"

"And, what?"

"You want him to be?"

She hesitated before diplomatically answering, "Ray and Ciana have a right to know their uncle, aunt and cousins, since they really want to meet them."

"Cousins?" Andros smiled.

"Jeff's kids, Jake and Sarah. Jake's 15 and Sarah's 12."

"But that doesn't tell me what you want." He insisted, seeing past her act.

Ashley sighed and closed her eyes. For a moment Andros thought she wasn't going to reply, but then she opened her mouth.

"When my parents disowned me because I was having Aurora, it hurt. Oh god, Andros, it hurt so badly, but I knew I could live without them, but not without you or our baby. Now I have a chance in getting a bit of my family back. While you were gone and the doorbell rang I hoped, I don't know how many times, that if were my parents or Jeff, that they actually cared and now I know my brother cares. The only reason I dared to defy my parents was because of my time as a ranger and you."

Andros tightened his arms around her. They stayed like that for a while, until Ashley tried to pull away.

"I should really start dinner now, Ray and Aurora can be home any minute." She started.

"We could just order some pizza." Andros suggested, pulling her back into the embrace.

"I could live with that." Ashley giggled and relaxed in his arms again.

The feeling was short lived though, just when she had gotten comfortable, the high pinched cries of the young baby girl upstairs cut through the air. Sighing, Ashley struggled out of Andros's embrace again.

"I'll go, you see what kind of pizza the kids want when they get in."

Andros let out a laugh and reluctantly let her leave his arms to answer their daughter's calls. Sure enough within to minutes the cries were non-existent.

He heard a key being pushed into the lock on the front door and the door was opened.

"I'm home!" Ray's voice called.

Andros got up to welcome his son home, a grin on his face.

"Your mom just quieted your sister, you know." He said, walking into the hallway. "Want her to start crying again?"

"Not a bit. My ears are still ringing from this morning." Ray replied, throwing his schoolbag and jacket into a corner.

"I'll put them away later." He quickly added, seeing his father's disapproving expression.

Andros was about to say something about it when the doorbell rang.

"Since when does the pizza arrive before you call?" Andros muttered, wandering who could be at the door.

Having a bad feeling, he stopped Ray from opening the door and took a step forward himself, pushing Ray behind him a little before reaching out to open the door…

A/N: Don't you just love cliffies? I know I do. Sorry it took me so long to write this, but I kinda had a small writers block and little time on my hands to write since I was taking drivers lessons only to fail the test, but don't be sad, I can retry about halfway through August, so you've got two choices; 1) you'll root for me to pass, 2) you'll pray to god I'll never pass so the streets of the Netherlands will be safe a little longer. REVIEW!

P.S.

Some of you are more creative than I am, so… I'm holding a design contest. I'm looking for a wedding dress and the description that I like best will be used in my story, or I'll mix some together, depends on how many I love. :-P


	10. Chapter 9

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Necroblade**: That's okay, I got loads of wedding dresses thanks to Jenny and google, but not the one I'll be using. I'm glad you're not mad at me for not updating in almost a month. Lucky you, passing in one try, I'll just keep it to the lucky two. My brother did it in 3 times, and I really want to out do him. Yes, the cliffie's evil, but I said multiple times Evil is my middle name. In front of the door, a cop or a monster? Hmmm… I think monster would come close, but not in the way you meant it._

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you liked it. This time you didn't have to wait long. YAY!_

_**Arwennicole**: Well, maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but paying close attention while reading, you'll find out which it is. I hid it in the chapter. Oh and thanks for the wedding dress description and picture. I love it and will be using it for my next chapter._

_**LucyE**: Of course I didn't forget about you all, I just had some other things on my mind. Read and find out what's going to happen to Aurora, Mack I'll leave to be a surprise. Well, posting stories is actually quite easy, once you reached that point, give a yell and me or sweet, ever so helpful Jenny will help. I believe you know who's getting married, for it's a chapter I promised you. More I won't say._

_**DizneeDol**: Jenny's jealous of me, since I finished this chapter in, what? 4 hours tops after finishing the last. Just didn't put it up to keep you in suspense and to catch more reviews! Yes, I know I'm evil._

_**Jenny**: If you really want me to reply to all of that, then you're out of your mind. 8KB! For heavens sake! Thank you for having SO much faith in me as a driver. Wait, I have so much faith in me as a driver, you're the only one to agree with me. Yay, someone agrees with me!_

_**TrueRomantic**: Tell me the date of your birthday and there'll be a birthday present waiting for you on Being only child sounds fun, but I really don't know what I would do without Demon (the nickname my older brother got some time ago when I was talking to Jenny). Yeah, well, Jeff and Ashley always were close, so it wouldn't be fair to keep the ripped apart now would it? As for who's getting married, you'll just have to wait. I love the dress description, but I won't be using it yet, maybe in another story. But I promise it will be used._

_**The-power-of-love**: Always try to do that. :)_

_**Melissa**: It's okay, don't worry. Phantom just told Jenny, so I don't have to do it, but anyway. Have fun and we'll all try not to get your mailbox too crowded with updates. (PHANTOM! JENNY! Start writing, really, really fast :P)_

_**Phantom Rogue**: Duh! Of course you know who's at the door! I freaking to you already. Jenny knew too, since she already beta-read this chapter before I put the last one up. Me? Guilty for being mean to Ashley? NEVER! Of course I'm not going to kill Aurora! She's my main character! And me looking for a wedding dress has nothing to do with that. Why does everyone think it's Aurora getting married? She just started college for god sake! She won't get married until after graduating college! You know, me and Jenny were talking about marrying Ciana off when she's older, I even got her a boyfriend/soulmate. I'll e-mail you about it later. Oh and Ciana is by now, 4 weeks old! There won't be a happily ever after for a LONG time. I believe a 2 year old is capable of minimal speech, much easy words and not too complicated sentences, but that's it. (I happen to have had 2 2-year-old around me not too long ago, a fiend of mine has a 2 year old daughter and a friend of my dad's too.) Why'd ya wanna know?_

_**Juzblue**: I'm not going to kill anyone but bad guys. I promise. Okay, so you want me to pass my test since you're save and far away, thanks! You have as much faith in me as Jenny! YAY!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 9**

Gwyn stood in front of the door nervously. After a long day of trying to keep herself even just faintly amused, she was finally going to do what she came here for. If she was lucky she could be out before things got nasty. She had just seen Ray enter, so she didn't have to worry about spending too much time in there, but still there were going to be some nasty questions. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the doorbell.

It took a while, but finally the door was opened and she was looking into the younger version of a very familiar face – one that was covered in a confused and slightly wary expression. Taking a deep breath to collect her thoughts and pray that she wouldn't screw this up, she knew what she had to do and what attitude to keep for now.

"Hello, Mr. Hammond." She said as cheerily as possible, speaking clearly, trying not to let him pick on anything out of the odds. "You probably don't know me, but my name is Rosa. Um… I've got a message for your son, Ray. Could I come in for a moment?"

He was obviously considering telling her 'no' and closing the door. When he opened the door further, she breathed a silent sigh of relieve. She tentatively stepped inside. Immediately she spotted Ray. Obviously he hadn't left the hall yet, his jacket and bag seeming to agree to that fact. When she looked him in the eye, Ray was looking at her with a penetrating look.

"Um… hi." She greeted.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Ray asked, still seeming to try and look right through her.

"No, not really. Why?"

"You look familiar somehow." Ray replied. "You said you had a message for me?"

Gwyn quickly broke eye contact and looked at the floor, self-consciously pushing her long black hair behind her ear, hoping he hadn't recognized her eyes.

"Actually, it's more of a warning. You see…"

Just then Ashley came down the stairs with baby Ciana in her arms. Gwyn glanced at her and smiled a little.

"Oh, hello." Ashley greeted.

"Hi." Gwyn replied softly, getting more nervous and uncomfortable by the minute.

"Ash, this is Rosa, she's here to warn Ray for something. Or so she says…" Andros said, obviously not trusting her one bit, though she couldn't blame him.

Ray hadn't looked away from her yet, still looking at her, but now more curiously.

"What are you here to warn me for?" He asked, trying not to let his curiosity show.

"Well…"

In the living room the phone rang. Andros and Ashley caught each other's eyes and Ashley handed Ciana to him, knowing he didn't want to leave this Rosa out of his sight for as long as she had to stay in their house. Gwyn held her breath, hoping against hope the call wasn't what she thought it was.

"Ashley Hammond." Ashley's voice came from the living room.

Gwyn's heart was pounding 60 miles a minute and her hands balled into fists.

"Are you okay?" Ray asked softly, obviously trying to listen to the phone conversation too.

Gwyn didn't react as Ashley's voice entered the hall again.

"Yes, Aurora is my daughter. Is something wrong?"

All colour drained from Gwyn's face. She had taken too long. Hell was going to break loose soon and she would be caught right in the middle. She closed her eyes for a moment and before looking around. Both Andros and Ray had turned their heads to the door opening to the living room. Knowing it was now or never Gwyn took a deep breath.

"Ray." She nearly whispered insistently and Ray looked at her again. "You're going to be in for a rough ride, but whatever you do, DON'T give up. Aurora will be just fine."

Ray looked at her strangely, but got distracted by Ashley's voice again.

"What?" Ashley's voice was filled with fear, disbelief and despair. "How… How is she? … I understand. … We'll be there as soon as we can. … No, there's no need, I'm sure you have better things to do. … Thank you, bye."

After a moment of silence in which Ashley didn't return, Andros looked at her fleetingly, but must have decided she wasn't too dangerous and quickly walked off into the living room.

"Ash?" She heard him ask. "Wh-What's wrong? Did something happen to Aurora?"

"She…" Ashley sobbed, her words barely coherent between tears. "She… Oh god, Andros. A truck ran a red light… It… Aurora… It hit Mack's car… Aurora… She's… She's…"

Ray looked at her with slowly widening eyes.

"She's not…" Andros asked, his voice breaking.

"No… Physically she's not as bad as Mack, but…" It was obviously hard to say for the young mother. "She's in a coma, Andros. They don't know when she's going to wake up and in what state she'll be. She hit her head against the dashboard and was without oxygen for a while. She might never…"

Tears were welling up in Ray's eyes, hearing his sister was in hospital, but his sight never left Gwyn.

"How?" He choked, staring at her through tears of sorrow and wonder.

Gwyn shook her head and knew she had to get away right now. Closing her eyes, she disappeared in a bolt of electricity, entering the nearest socket. All Ray could do was stare and wonder what just happened.

A/N: Ha! I finished it fast didn't I? I guess I'm kinda over that writers block for now. Hope you liked it. Review.


	11. Chapter 10

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Necroblade**: At first I was thinking of letting it be an honest mistake of a drunk driver, but I changed my mind. You'll find out what were his motives as soon as Phantom helps me with two of my new characters. :P I just heard I'll be retaking my test August 31, will you root for me?_

_**Juzblue**: I know, Jenny does so too, even though she doesn't want to admit it! Ah, yeah, the turning into electricity, you'll find out more about that someday._

_**DizneeDol**: YAY! You loved it! I'm so happy now!_

_**Jenny**: Ah yes, you again. Luckily your review was much smaller this time! So you want more of a response? Well, I couldn't really respond to the wedding dress babbling other than what I did, since I talk to you too you know, that helps with getting messages over. Oh and about that wedding babbling, I did explain it again to you, but I'll do it again for the readers. You are going to marry Wes Collins on Aquitar. I was going to be maid of honour. Rosa was flower girl, cause that fits her name so beautifully and Melissa can be priest. After the wedding I'll go live on KO-35 and you'll travel time with Wes as a honeymoon, leaving your first born on a newly founded KO-35 to be the ancestor of Andros and Karone. Okay, so now we've got that worked out, I'll go on with the reply to the next review so I can update, but you'll read this only after I updated, so that doesn't mean so much to you. (Happy with the length of the response now?)_

_**TrueRomantic**: Yeah, poor Ray, maybe being fatherless did something to his mind or he indeed got some bad food at his friend's or… Nah, let's not go there, that would ruin the surprise. So life hasn't been that easy for Ashley. Making Ashley suffer is fun, for than Andros can comfort her, supplying the story with many A/A moments to keep the A/A-shippers like me happy. (Yes, I read my own stories when I'm bored.) Ah, another person wishing me luck while being safely on another continent, though even the distance between Europe and the US doesn't seem to comfort Jenny enough to wish me luck and hope I pass. I have to admit that on my birthday every time a review with a birthday wish entered my mailbox, this big cheesy smile appeared on my face. It made me feel loved and more special than any of the other presents I got. Also the stories placed on as a birthday present really touched me. Okay, why Demon is called Demon. I was talking to Jenny once and she asked me where I lived so I told her the dump next to the incinerator (or was it a hell hole?). So she told me she lived there too, maybe we were neighbours. Then she said she saw a demon run by and asked if it was my. I told her no, but it might be my brother and he and all the siblings of Jenny and Rosa (Melissa too I believe) are now addressed as demon if we talk about them. Demon never did anything bad, he just doesn't know the meaning of the word 'NO' when I don't want him to bug me and that's very annoying, but I love him all the same. Okay, so the appearance of Tommy and Kimberly is briefer than I planned, but there'll be more of them soon. Promise. (Don't get mad at the long reply Jenny. Please don't kill me!)_

_**Ghostwriter**: You don't need to wait long, I'm being little miss speed writer right now according to Jenny._

_**Arwennicole**: I always try to update soon. This is the wedding chapter, see if the description worked out good enough, if not, blame Jenny._

_**The-power-of-love**: For you, always. :P_

_**Phantom Rogue**: No review, no chapters, no e-mail! WHERE ARE YOU!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 10**

Aurora looked around, unsure of her surroundings. She seemed to be somewhere familiar, but she couldn't place it. Trees, a forest, light streaming into a clearing, birds chirping merrily… but where? And how had she gotten here?

The sound of laughter caught her attention and she tentatively moved to see where it came from. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of what looked like a wedding ceremony - a very familiar wedding ceremony. But that couldn't be. THAT wedding was over 4 months ago… and how could her mother look pregnant while Ciana was already a month old?

Her head started to spin with questions. What was going on?

She watched everyone settle down and caught sight of herself sitting down next to her mother. She smiled a little when she saw the groom shift nervously at the makeshift altar. The best man was obviously enjoying the sight of his friend so nervous too.

She suddenly wished she was part of it again, not looking from the cover of these bushes, but sitting there, next to her mother enjoying the wedding and imagining herself walking down the isle with Mack nervously waiting for her at the end. Of course she was realistic enough to know it might not be Mack standing at the end, but it was still nice just _imagining_ it.

Just then the music started and she watched the bridesmaids and the maid of honour walk up to the altar. Once they had reached the end of the isle and had taken a step aside, the famous march began to play and the bride started to make her way down the isle. Aurora smiled again.

For her spot in the crowd she hadn't been able to see it, but it was obvious the bride only had eyes for her groom. She truly looked beautiful in that dress, though no one had expected her to wear one.

The design was simple, but still elegant with a floor length full skirt that flowed down smoothly, and pooled in a small train at the back. The top was an a-line tank with a scoop neck and back, beaded with pearl-like beads that extended into a design on her skirt. Her hair was let down in soft curls, light bouncing off the light-coloured waves, her veil was gauzy, foamy, and bounced around her shoulders, attached to a sparkling tiara set on her styled hair. Her wedding bouquet was yellow, red; lilies, roses, and tied with a silky ribbon, held gently in the glowing bride's hands.

Slowly but surely she reached the end of the isle. Giving her bouquet to the maid of honour, she turned to her future husband. Just two small words and he would be hers forever. He took her hand and they turned to the priest. He smiled at them and began the vows.

"Do you Conner McKnight take Kira Ford to be your wife – to live together after God's ordinance – in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and keep her, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon her your heart's deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live? "

"I do," Conner replied with a shaking voice.

"And do you Kira Ford take Conner McKnight to be your husband – to live together after God's ordinance – in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honour and keep him, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon him your heart's deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," the young singer spoke, her smile radiant with joy.

"What token of your love do you offer? Would you place the rings in my hand? May these rings be blessed as the symbol of this affectionate unity. These two lives are now joined in one unbroken circle. Wherever they go – may they always return to one another. May these two find in each other the love for which all men and women year. May they grow in understanding and in compassion. May the home which they establish together be such a place that many will find there a friend. May these rings on their fingers symbolize the touch of the spirit of love in their hearts. Conner, in placing this ring on Kira's finger, repeat after me: Kira, you are now consecrated to me as my wife from this day forward and I give you this ring as the pledge of my love and as the symbol of our unity and with this ring, I thee wed."

"Kira, you are now consecrated to me as my wife from this day forward and I give you this ring as the pledge of my love and as the symbol of our unity and with this ring, I thee wed." Conner said, stumbling over the words.

"Kira, in placing this ring on Conner's finger, repeat after me: Conner, you are now consecrate to me as my husband from this day forward and I give you this ring as the pledge of my love and as the symbol of our unity and with this ring, I thee wed."

"Conner, you are now consecrate to me as my husband from this day forward and I give you this ring as the pledge of my love and as the symbol of our unity and with this ring, I thee wed."

As the priest continued his talk, Aurora looked around the crowd of people gathered. She soon spotted Kimberly and Tommy at the front row. Sam and Tamara were sitting next to them. Little Lucy sat on Sam's lap under the watchful eye of Tommy, who was ready to save the kid the moment something was out of the odds.

Not far from them Trent was holding his one month old son Roger, who looked like he was about to cry. If she remembered correctly, that was indeed the next thing the baby boy would do.

"You may now kiss the bride." The priest spoke.

Conner didn't need to be told twice, happy it was finally over and Kira was now Mrs. Conner McKnight. Over the applauding she could hear Roger's cries, soon to be joined by Lucy's.

Aurora laughed softly, thinking of her own baby sister. Ciana was a sweet baby, never fussing unless it was absolutely necessary, like when she needed a clean diaper or food. She knew Roger and Lucy were a hell lot more of a handful for their parents. She wouldn't be surprised if it would take a while before they'd be joined by siblings.

"Aurora." A voice close behind her said, startling her into turning around.

A/N: I still love cliffies! Hope you liked it. REVIEW!


	12. Chapter 11

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Necroblade**: Cliffies are good! The relevance of the wedding? Uh, non other than the promise to LucyE I would put it in? I've seen a lot of Conner/Kira fics, I swear. It's not as uncommon as you think. I'll make sure to put a story/chapter up around then._

_**Juzblue**: Oh, I updated, but you'll hate me! Though it's my friend Rosa you should really hate. I asked her to create that character's looks and bio. I'm still waiting on it and I can't continue that part of the story until I have it. Aren't I mean?_

_**DizneeDol**: I'll update as soon as I can without getting into trouble with my mom for spending the whole day behind the computer. :P Please, keep living for a while longer._

_**Ghostwriter**: Cute! Yay!_

_**Jenny**: OH HELP! I love the review, just take that and be happy. I'm moving on to the next review. :-P_

_**LucyE**: That's okay. Okay, so Aurora is in a coma, few scratches and brushes, but she's fine. Mack on the other hand… Well, you'll find out in a future chapter, just keep in mind the truck hit the car on his side. Hope you liked Kira's dress. You've got Arwennicole to thank for that._

_**Arwennicole**: Yay! Jenny, we did something right! I think you phrased it wrong. You don't like reading cliffies, no one does, but writing cliffies is a whole other story:P_

_**TrueRomantic**: Sorry, Lucy's not their kid. She's their goddaughter and the kid of Conner and Kira. Read the last chapter of Part 1 of the Zodiac Rangers, not counting the prologue. Nah, I don't live next to incinerator, I do live above a witch though. My downstairs neighbour is really weird. Her garden has turned into a jungle, she looks strange and she's a walking fashion-disaster! Oh and in all the time she lived her (1 and a half year) she never opened her curtains. Yay! You were bashing Jenny! You were defending me! YAY! HAHA Jenny, see people fear you behind the wheel more than they fear me. And with good reasons too I believe. :P JK_

_**The-power-of-love**: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, you hated it. You wrote one 'love it' to less. :-( Now I'll die._

_**Melissa**: I can't say anything about that, just that Rosa and Gwyn are the same person, but Gwyn isn't really a name you hear a lot (not there anyway) and Rosa is and she's not supposed the give herself away (just yet :P) Wow, I actually succeeded in getting someone confused!_

_**Phantom Rogue**: Duh, but I couldn't really let her introduce herself as Gwyn, now could I? You know who she really is and so you should know why introducing her as Gwyn would be a very bad idea. AAAAAHHHHH, Demon might update! Run for the hills! Yeah, that was Conner and Kira getting married, got a problem with it? I just told Jenny something about that idea of yours, so I'll e-mail it to you if I don't see you online very soon. And please, please, if you got that e-mail with that new ranger team, create the white ranger! I NEED HIM!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 11**

Ashley stared sadly down at the pale face of her eldest daughter. Only the soft moving of her chest in silent breaths gave any indication at all that she was alive. She desperately wanted to just hold onto her hand, but it was so cold… so cold, that she couldn't bear to keep grasp of it.

Andros had an arm wrapped around her, a small comfort to her; he too could only stare at Aurora. She looked so small and fragile between the white sheets of that hospital bed. Rangers were only human, as they knew very well, but it wasn't fair a mere car could do this much damage while a monster only left a few scratches and brushes.

Ray had retreated to a corner of the room, sitting on the ground and desperately trying not to look at his sister, but his eyes were drawn to her involuntarily. Next to him, baby Ciana lay asleep in her maxi cosi. Ray kept a close eye on her while trying to avoid looking at Aurora. If she were to wake up, he would have her out and in his arm only moments later knowing that even if she was to cry, his parents were too dazed to react.

A soft knock on the door caught their attention, it slowly opened and an unfamiliar man came in, slowly as if not wanting to intrude. Ray watched his mother's eyes widen and standing up.

"Jeff." She muttered, looking about ready to faint from shock.

The man reached out and soon held a crying Ashley, rubbing small circles on her back.

"Shhh." He whispered. "It'll be alright."

"How?" Ashley choked, trying hard to pull herself together.

"Michelle's a nurse here. When she entered this room to check up on her patient and recognized Aurora's hair, she immediately called me." Jeff explained gently, pulling back slightly. "Are you guys okay?"

Ashley nodded, tears still silently running down her face, but Andros shook his head.

"Not really. Do they know who the driver of that truck was?"

"I'm sorry, but from what Michelle could tell me, the police are in the dark. They found the truck at the bottom of Angel's Bluff, but no driver was inside and if he had been, he'd be dead."

"Serves him right." Andros growled, balling his hands into fists.

"I agree." Jeff sighed.

A rumbling noise made him look at the corner of the room where Ray and Ciana were. Ray was rubbing his stomach with an unreadable expression.

"Hungry?" Jeff asked.

"We were waiting for Aurora to come home order pizza when we got the call." Andros confessed, sighing. "We didn't eat before coming here."

Jeff looked thoughtful for a moment, before speaking tentatively.

"Look, you guys are probably tired… How about I ask Michelle to keep watch over Aurora for a while? You could get something to eat at my place and you're welcome to stay as long as you want. We've got a guest-room wit double bed - Jake shouldn't mind sharing his room too much, he has sleepovers with his friends all the time and I'm sure we have their crib stored in the attic. It would only need some dusting off. The mattress should be stored in a plastic bag, so no dust there and the rest just needs a visit to the washing machine, but then Ciana has a place to sleep too."

"You don't have to do that, Jeff." Ashley replied, touched by her brother's words.

"Yes, I do," Jeff pressed insistently. "I've got a lot to make up for, Ash. I'm even willing to take turn watching over Aurora. I know you two well enough to know you want someone to be with her 24 hours a day, but having just two people to do that takes too much out of you and you have Ciana and Ray to think of too."

Ashley sought eye contact with Andros for a moment and than slowly nodded.

"Wait here for a moment, I'll get Michelle." He said before leaving the room.

Suddenly something sprang to Ashley's mind and she closed her eyes.

"Clothes." She muttered, sounding dismayed and disappointed.

"We could get them tomorrow." Andros said, wrapping his arms around his wife. "It's too late to drive up and down to Crystal Springs."

"I can teleport." Ray spoke for the first time since entering the room. "But just myself. Chaitlin, Dakota and Kayla are the ones that can teleport more people, due to their magic, but…"

"But what?" Andros asked gently.

"We're not on really good terms with the team anymore." Ray confessed.

"Have you ever tried teleporting more people?" Andros sighed.

"No." Ray replied softly.

"We'll try later. If it doesn't work at least you can get an overnight bag for Ciana together with some extra diapers and get your own pyjama then I'll go get the rest tomorrow." Andros assured, sending his son a weak smile.

Ray returned it and scrambled to his feet as Jeff returned with a brown haired nurse with red highlights in her hair. Her green eyes held a sparkle in them as she held out her hand to Ashley.

"You must be Ashley. Jeff told me a lot about you. I'm Michelle," She greeted with a small smile. "And you must be Andros. Like Jeff said, you're welcome to stay at our house as long as necessary."

Andros and Ashley returned their greeting and made sure to thank Michelle for the hospitality. Michelle waved it away and turned to Ray.

Ciana started whimpering and Ray quickly took her in his arms, hugging her close as she almost immediately quieted. It did get the attention of Michelle.

"I'm guessing you're Ray." She said. "You look like a great big brother for your baby sister."

Ciana gurgled happily as if to agree, her tiny hands reaching for his necklace and Ray smiled softly down at her.

"I couldn't ask for two better sisters than Aurora and Ciana. I wouldn't want to trade them for the world." He replied, making his parents smile proudly.

"Don't you worry." Michelle smiled. "You won't lose Aurora."

A/N: Hope you liked it. REVIEW! Oh and check the homepage I uploaded! Warning: it's still under construction and only the fanfiction section really works.


	13. Chapter 12

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: The character in the very last sentence of chapter 10, I believe it was._

_**DizneeDol**: I made night-work of this one, just so I could update for you guys. I'm almost falling asleep right now. See me yawning? And IT'S MORNING OVER HERE!_

_**Jenny**: You talked about weddings again! See my website is getting somewhere. I really need that images page ready._

_**The-power-of-love**: You beat Jenny's record! Your review was 22 Kb in my mailbox. Bye, bye Jenny._

_**TrueRomantic**: Oh and please do continue bashing Jenny no matter what she says, it's fun. I believe I've got Tommyitis too. Was born with it. Oh and I don't live NEXT to a witch, I live ABOVE her, so it's worse, though I can imagine living next to your freak would be quite uncomfortable too. YAY! I got another friend! I love my friends. They're all so great. Always there when I need them. Unless Jenny decides to log off AIM. Oh and don't worry, until now Andros has NOT been on my mind while I'm driving. Wow, that must be a first!_

_**Ghostwriter**: Stange, well, you could review anyway! YAY! Glad you like it._

_**Melissa**: You are going to get even more confused and I won't explain until I put up the chapter explaining it. :P_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 12**

Kayla sat on her bed, eyes shut tightly, sweat drops slowly crawling down her face as she stared into blank oblivion behind her closed eyelids, trying to get her breathing back under control. She couldn't remember what that dream had been about, but it had scared her to no end.

She suddenly heard her bedroom door being thrown open and instinctively her blaster appeared in her hand, aimed at her doorway, her finger tense on the trigger. She relaxed as her mind registered her twin standing there with his hands up in the air in a surrender position.

"Whoa, take it easy, Kayl. It's just me." Dakota said softly, carefully approaching his twin.

"Sorry." Kayla replied, slowly lowering the blaster. "I- I guess I'm a little freaked out."

Dakota walked over to her and sat down on her bed, pulling her into a hug as her weapon disappeared again.

"Tell me what's wrong. You were telepathically screaming so loud I'm surprised KO-35 isn't calling right now and demanding to know what's going on. Heck, it surprises me I'm the only one here."

This drew a small laugh from Kayla as she laid her head against her brother's shoulder.

"Sorry… It's just that I had this really weird - and realistic - dream that's got me all freaked out." Kayla replied, before thoughtfully adding, "Well, not really a dream, more of a nightmare I guess."

"Tell me." Dakota suddenly requested insistently.

"Well… we were fighting this **really** strong monster and Ray and Aurora weren't there. Then all of a sudden Ray shows up and starts charging at the monster, screaming something about Aurora, but I couldn't make out what. Anyway, his fighting, it was… different somehow. He seemed distracted. He was being sloppy and his defence was… well, it was just plain lousy. We tried to help, but those stupid minions showed up and blocked our way." Kayla swallowed hard before continuing. "When we finally defeated them, we could only watch as the monster struck down Ray, laughing. As he teleported out Aurora showed up, seeing Ray and started yelling at us. How we should've looked out for him more and such. Her last words before teleporting out with Ray. At that moment we all knew our team would never be complete again."

By then tears were rolling down Kayla's face, mixing with the sweat droplets into one salty liquid wetting her skin.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Dakota whispered, rubbing small circles on his baby sister's back before adding empathetically. "Okay sis, what aren't you telling me?"

Kayla sighed, knowing she couldn't fool the other half of her soul.

"Ray demorphed after being struck down and there was blood, lots of blood. He looked so pale and… and…"

"Dead?" Dakota whispered, finishing her sentence with the one word she dreaded.

Kayla nodded, her fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt.

"It was just a dream, Kayla. Dreams don't hurt you, dreams aren't real." He assured.

"But it looked so real." Kayla protested. "It felt so real."

"Want me to stay with you?"

The offer was one made many times when they were younger and either had a nightmare. They had been sharing a room back then. Sometimes the nightmare seemed so silly, they didn't want to wake up their parents, even though they were scared, but the other never minded. They understood each other on a level no one else could. Being a twin had forged a bond between them no one really understood. It wasn't uncommon with telepathic twins, but just science couldn't discover how or why it was there. Still, Kayla was thankful to have it.

"Please." She answered, a gentle smile on her face.

Kayla's reply was almost too soft to be heard, but Dakota picked it up anyway. He smiled, glad to know his sister hadn't grown too proud to admit her fear. He knew he had, though he might still admit fear to Kayla, no one else would ever know if he was afraid.

"Come on, let's get you a wet washcloth for your face and something to drink before you try to sleep again." He added, standing up and pulling his sister to her feet.

"And an aspirin." She advised. "I got a killer headache thanks to that nightmare."

Hand in hand they crept downstairs, trying not to wake up anyone else. Neither was willing to explain Kayla's nightmare, not while the sun wasn't up, creating a deceiving appearance of safety and making nightmares seem so less scary than the night did. Too much things hid in the dark for either of them to truly feel safe.

Dakota pushed his sister into the bathroom while he went to get a glass of cold water from the kitchen downstairs. Once he got back he found his sister had given up on the wet washcloth and was splashing cold water into her face.

"Here." Dakota said, offering her a towel when she was finished, looking a little less shaken already.

After Kayla threw the towel onto the hamper and took two aspirins out of the medicine cabinet, he handed her the glass of water and watched her swallow the two pills before gulping down the rest of the water. She made a face and shivered a little.

"I hate their taste." She informed him eloquently.

"Me too." Dakota agreed. "Now let's get some sleep."

Kayla merely nodded and followed her brother back into her room. She set the empty glass down on her nightstand – not wanting to leave her room now that she was back here - before getting back into bed. Dakota joined her and wrapped his arms around his sister's small frame.

"Night Kayl." He whispered.

"Night Kota." Kayla replied sleepily before drifting off to sleep, her nightmare forgotten.

A/N: Ha, I honestly didn't know I was going to write this in this chapter. I was just out of ideas and started writing and this appeared on my computer screen. Hope you liked it. REVIEW and look at my site, it's updated!


	14. Chapter 13

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: You really liked it? I was just started writing, just like this chapter! I'm not going to say anything about the dream, yet._

_**DizneeDol**: Well, I did everything in my power to get this chapter finished. Meaning; stay up late and write this in, what? 2 hours tops? You like my site? YAY!_

_**TrueRomantic**: Yeah, I used the last chapter to show how close Kayla and Dakota really are. YAY! You are my friend! My aim screenname Annmarcath. Well, Andros is almost always on my mind, yeah, same goes for Power Ranger, but not while I'm driving. :P_

_**Jenny**: SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! I BEG YOUR FORGIVENESS. This better? We still love you Jenny. You are the best reviewer and beta-reader in the world. Have fun luring unsuspecting campers into bear traps. Just one question: CAN I HELP?_

_**The-power-of-love**: Another 22 Kb review. Wow, you really love this story, don't you?_

_**Arwennicole**: Glad you like the story. I can't wait to see your next PR fic, any you'll put up I read. You're a great writer._

_**Ghostwriter**: Yeah, I love their moment too, that's why I put the chapter in. That twin bond will be important in the future._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 13**

Chaitlin yawned as she walked down the stairs. It was way too early for her to be up, in her opinion at least. Normally she would have turned on her other side and slept on, but today her mind, even in it's drowsy state, told her something was wrong. Unfortunately, her mind was still too foggy to realise what.

She walked into the living room, blinking furiously, trying to get the sleep from her eyes. She took the TV's remote control from the coffee table and walked over to the open kitchen, separated from the living room by a bar-like counter. Pointing the remote over her shoulder, she turned the TV on.

As she opened the fridge to get and took a carton of milk out, the sounds of a kid TV-show met her ears.

"Why in the name of all sanity would little kids be up at this hour?" She muttered, glancing briefly at the clock, seeing it was only 7:30.

Yawning again she opened one of the kitchen's cabinets and took out a glass, pouring milk into it. Snorting at the TV, watching characters from, what she had come to know as, Sesame Street dance around on the screen, singing about washing hands and eating broccoli.

"Broccoli? Yuck! Who would eat that?" Chaitlin yawned.

Talking a gulp from her milk she pushed another button on the remote.

"… _the police are currently running an investigation to find the driver from the hit-and-run late yesterday afternoon." _The anchorwoman on the screen said reported.

"Bo-ring." Chaitlin yawned at the early morning news.

She had already clicked the button again before the next words registered.

"The police are denying any involvement of the new ranger team that showed up in Angel Grove about nine months ago and appeared again the day before yesterday."

Shocked, she quickly switched back.

"… _identity of the two victims are still kept silent, but eyewitnesses confirm the girl might very well be the daughter of two former rangers. The police are holding an emergency press conference at this very moment."_

The screen switched to a cramped little room where five people in police uniform were sitting at a long table, half hidden behind the many microphones.

'_How are the victims doing?' _A reporter asked.

The camera zoomed in on the middle police officer and Chaitlin smiled softly as she recognized Adam Park.

'_She's going to be fine. Currently she has lapsed into a due to a concussion, but other than a few scratches and brushes, she is perfectly healthy. The boy however is still on the IC in a critical condition. The doctors are doing everything to keep him alive. From what we've heard he has a broken leg, a few cracked ribs, a punctured lung and a nasty cut right above his eye. We can only pray and hope he pulls through.'_

Chaitlin shuddered; she hoped the boy would be fine.

'_Rumour has it the girl is the daughter of two former Power Rangers.'_ Another reporter called. _'Is this true?'_

'_We are not allowed to make the identities of the victims public yet.'_ Adam replied, but Chaitlin noticed a strange glint in his eyes.

'_People say it's the girl that caused an uproar even before she was born.'_ The reporter pressed on. _'They say it's the girl some people still speak scandal of.'_

'_I have no clue what you're talking about.'_ Adam said courtly, but Chaitlin could see the conflict of emotions in his eyes.

'_They say the girl is Aurora Hammond…'_

Chaitlin's blood ran cold and she went numb as the glass slipped out of her hand, shattering on the kitchen tiles, spilling milk everywhere. She didn't even feel it as some of the shards of the glass dug into her leg. The surprised yelp from the hallway didn't even register, nor did her father storming into the living room, trying to find out where the noise came from.

**Ten minutes later**

Chaitlin sat on the counter as her mother cleaned the small cuts in her leg and removed the tiny pieces of glass that might have remained in them. The mentioning of her cousins name had shook her wide-awake and now she knew what had been off this morning.

The dull presence of her cousin had been close to non-existing too small and fragile for her to be just sleeping. She had attempted to ask Ray what was going on, since his seemed strong enough for him to be awake too, but apparently he was blocking her and she didn't dare to call her uncle or aunt.

Her father just finished cleaning up the broken glass and spilled milk and now handed her a new glass of cold water.

"Here." He pressed softly. "They say it helps."

Chaitlin nodded dully and took the glass, shakily bringing it to her lips.

"It's still a bit too early to call." He continued and Chaitlin nodded. "How about I'll call Andros and Ashley at 10 and see if it's true or not?"

Again Chaitlin nodded, tears now slowly running down her cheeks.

"The others were so mean to her, Daddy." She whispered softly. "They got mad at her for trying to help Megan. They wouldn't even listen and draw conclusions, kicking her off the team without even listening to Megan. She was just helping. I don't want to be leader again, I don't even know if I want to be part of the team anymore if they go on like this."

Zhane pulled his daughter into a loose hug after shooting Karone, who was now putting a bandage around Chaitlin's leg, a helpless glance.

"Sometimes it takes trail and error to create a team, Chaitlin. We learn from our mistakes. I'm sure all will be fine in the end. Just do what your heart tells you to do and you can never go wrong."

A/N: Ow, the Zodiac team is slowly falling a part. I just love torturing them! Oh, I got a lot more in store for them. Just wait. Hope you liked it. REVIEW!


	15. Chapter 14

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Arwennicole**: Oh yes they can. :P Aurora will be just fine, I promise. She's just going to be out for a while. It's going to be of grave importance in the story. You'll find out what I mean in a while. Oh and about the no new chapter thingy, I think I'll be able to keep myself alive by writing. :P_

_**Necroblade**: Glad you like the Jeff/Ash reunion. And why are you complaining about cliffies? You can just read on and don't be bothered by them! Indeed not much happening in Chapter 12, but it'll be important in the future, though I won't say how. Hope you like this chapter too._

_**The-power-of-love**: You trying to clog my mailbox? Another review of 22 Kb. You must really, really love this story._

_**Jenny**: Yay, I got a rambling review again! Well, I answered most of your questions when you were online, so… LET'S RAMBLE BACK! Oh yeah, I'll probably sent Phantom the story first and only after she reads it I'll post it on fanfiction, cause I'm going to post! People have a right to know what I'm writing! And to tell me they love it! And to get Happy Birthday's for Phantom! You don't wanna play miss.bingo either? Those people must be crying now. Oh well, they shouldn't have asked us in the first place! WHOOP WHOOP! You didn't talk about weddings (except the mention you didn't talk about them, but we'll let it slide, won't we?). Subconsious? I've got three words for you and you can guess. :P_

_**DizneeDol**: The more buddies the merrier I'll be! And this chapter holds the reaction of the others, sorta._

_**TrueRomantic**: Sweet? I hurt Chaitlin and you think it's sweet? Cool! Maybe I should hurt more of my characters. Let's start with… Eshla! Sure you can post my stories on your site, Jenny did, so why should you, my bashing-Jenny-happy friend? Tell me when your site is out and I'll put it on the link page too. And I really LOVE your idea of reading our stories to those campers._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 14**

"I quit!" Chaitlin declared, fire burning in her eyes.

"You can't quit being a ranger!" Eshla shot back, her voice slowly rising.

"I'm not quitting the rangers." Chaitlin snapped. "I QUIT THE TEAM!"

With that she turned on her heels and stormed out of the room.

"Three rangers down, well, we still got ten left. What are we going to do now?" Dymphna sighed.

Dakota and Kayla locked eyes for a moment, dread written all over their faces. They hated to do this, but they knew there was no other way.

"Eight rangers." Kayla spoke in an unusually soft voice, even for her.

"Eight?" Anlon asked, looking at them with horror.

"Sorry mate." Dakota sighed. "But our family is more important than our team."

With that they followed Chaitlin at a slower pace. What had happened to Aurora had shocked them all, but it hadn't changed Eshla's mind.

The moment the door had slammed shut behind her, she had teleported out of the NASADA-base. Now she was walking along some beach in a place who knows where.

"_Chaitlin?"_ Kayla's metal voice asked tentatively. _"Where are you?"_

"_I don't know and I don't care." _Chaitlin replied curtly, tempted to put up her blocks.

"_Can we come?"_ Dakota's voice asked.

"_Do whatever you like, I'm not about to tell you where to go and where not."_

Dakota eyed Kayla suspiciously knowing she had heard it too. It was so un-Chaitlin-like to be so… so… not caring. Kayla shrugged and closed her eyes, concentrating on her older sister. It would take a bit more concentration and energy, but it was possible to teleport blindly, concentrating on a person only. As when they had found Andros on Cratus, she let her magic expand her teleporting abilities again knowing Dakota wasn't patient enough to teleport this way himself.

As the light of teleportation cleared, they found themselves on a deserted beach. Kayla shivered as the cold breeze brushed against her bare arms. Wordlessly, Dakota offered held out his jacket. Gratefully she pulled it around her shoulders and stuck her arms in the sleeves. The tips of her figures just barely stuck out on the other end, putting a smile on her face. When she looked up, she saw Chaitlin look at them, tears once again running down her cheeks and her lips were slowly starting to turn blue.

Kayla quickly rushed forward and wrapped her older sister into a hug. Soon she felt Dakota's arms wrap around the both of them.

"You'll always have us Chaitlin." Kayla whispered. "We don't agree with the team either. Aurora had done nothing wrong…"

"You heard what Dad said." Dakota continued. "Uncle Andros said the doctors are saying she'll be fine."

"They also say she might not be the old Aurora anymore when she wakes up due to the fact her oxygen was cut of for a while." Chaitlin half hardly snapped, the effect being lost as she sobbed slightly.

"That goes for any other human being, but you know the power not only protects rangers when they're morphed, but also unmorphed and helps heal. The power will assure Aurora will be the Aurora we know and love." Kayla argued. "And as long as the team can't see Aurora couldn't be mad at a stone even if she tried to, they'll just have to manage their battles with a team of 8 cooperating rangers. We can never truly leave the team as long as we call upon the same powers as they do."

Chaitlin nodded weakly, glad to have her siblings on her side to assure her.

"Come on, let's get home. The winters might be warmer here than on KO-35. I'm getting cold!" Dakota complained, causing both his sisters to laugh.

Only now did Chaitlin feel the shivers running up her spine. She was cold - and probably caught a cold by now too. Before she could concentrate on teleporting, a pink/purple swirl of light surrounded her. When the light faded they were standing in their living room back in Crystal Springs.

"I'll make some hot chocolate to warm us up." Kayla offered, shrugging Dakota's jacket off her shoulders and walked to the kitchen.

Chaitlin dropped down on the couch and stared at the TV. When Kayla pressed the cup of hot chocolate into her hands, she snapped out of her daze.

"You okay, Chait?" Kayla asked.

"Yeah, just thinking." Her sister replied.

"About?"

"Something seems to be up. Something strange. I just got this feeling, you know?"

"Yeah, I do, like something is there, just out of reach and no matter how hard you try you can't grab hold of it." Kayla agreed.

"Does this have to do with a strange telepathic presence that seems to have appeared about two days ago, but doesn't seem to be strong enough to identify or locate?" Dakota cut in.

"Yeah, but somehow I have a feeling it's someone we know." Chaitlin replied. "Somehow that someone seems to be here twice…"

A/N: Haha, I really do love writing cliffies. Hope you still liked it. REVIEW! And check out the new songfics on my site!


	16. Chapter 15

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Arwennicole**: We only have one ranger down. That they don't fight with the team anymore doesn't mean they won't fight when a monster shows up. They just won't work together with the team. Yeah, I was talking about that PR story you won't be putting up. If you need help with an idea, my head is almost always exploding with new stories. I even helped Phantom with a new story she'll be putting up some day._

_**Phantom Rogue**: Nope, not gone. Just left. I can't even remember what idea your talking about. I believe my brain is really fried from writing so much. Of course I wouldn't kill their cousins, they might not know that though. Killing the Zodiac rangers would kill me, they're part of me, they're in my heart. I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM! Wait, I can, sorry. My mistake. Have fun hating the other rangers, it was not intentional like BTF, MAW and Andrea._

_**Juzblue**: The whole team is going to be in so much trouble. Glad you know who they were talking about. You'll know who she is here. It's actually quite easy, I swear._

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you liked it. Catch ya on the flip side._

_**DizneeDol**: Glad you like._

_**The-power-of-love**: 17 Kb? Okay, I can live with that. Oh and whatever you try, you'll never clog my mailbox. If necessary I'll change my accounts email to my gmail account._

_**TrueRomantic**: I always try to update as soon as I can. Responded to the rest of your review yesterday I believe._

_**Jenny**: That was stolen, but I won't say you cheated, cause I told you, you could do it. Just make sure you babble next time. I love your babbling reviews._

_**Melissa**: I haven't visited the Astro Sims Rangers in a while, but they should be doing just fine. Glad you're getting used to our cliffies._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 15**

Gwyn groaned when she heard the beeping noise coming from her backpack. Sighing she got the communication devise out of her bag after checking if the coast was clear, and answered it.

"Gwyn, how's it going? Why aren't you back yet?"

"Well, hello to you too, Hean. I'm well, thank you for asking. What about you and the others? How are you holding up without me? Is Lejach behaving a bit?"

"GWYN!" Hean's voice warned in a dangerous rumble.

Knowing she would have trouble if she didn't answer his questions, she sighed again.

"Mission is going fine. I've decided to stay a bit longer to make sure things turn out okay now." She reported, brushing away a nag of guilt.

"That's only half of it." Hean guessed, sounding dismayed. "Damn it, Gwyn; you're emotionally involved! I knew we should've sent Jarreth or Jayane!"

"HEAN!" Gwyn argued. "That wouldn't have been safe. They would notice it if the same person would be showing up everywhere! You know I was the only choice we had, emotional involvement or not."

"Okay… but be careful. The moment something goes wrong, pull back or report and I'll sent Kirl to help out."

"Fine." Gwyn reluctantly agreed, but silently cursed him.

**Angel Grove Memorial**

Ashley looked up when someone squeezed her shoulder. Andros shot her an empty smile and ran his hand through her hair as he sat down.

Last night Ray hadn't managed to teleport Andros with him to get some overnight stuff, so Andros had set off early this morning to get some clothes so they could stay at Jeff's for at least another week. He had only just walked through the front door when the phone rang. Zhane was calling about the early morning news and some crazy story, which concluded in him asking if Aurora happened to have had a car crash the evening before. Andros had sadly confirmed the story and told theirs. Zhane had offered to inform the others and him and Karone offered to follow him to Angel Grove, wanting to help out in any way possible.

Since Jeff and Michelle both had to work this Saturday, Karone offered to watch the kids so both Andros and Ashley could go to Aurora. Zhane was currently with Karone and would take the watch over Aurora to night.

"I just got of the phone with Zhane." Andros whispered, still smoothing out her hair.

"And? How did the ranger meeting of the kids go?"

"It resulted in Chaitlin and the twin quitting the team, breaking it up even more so."

"They're just caught in the middle of this disagreement and obviously don't want to take sides." Ashley sighed, leaning against his as best as she could.

"I just hope things turn out okay." Andros admitted.

"You weren't very nice to us either, and I can remember **many** disagreements, but we turned out just fine, didn't we?"

"Let's hope history will repeat itself in that department considering the team."

They sat in silence for a while, drawing strength from each other. After a long silence, a knock on the door caught their attention and a woman entered tentatively.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, I presume?" She asked softly.

Andros and Ashley nodded, not sure what the woman wanted.

"My name is Rachel, Rachel Castana, Mack's mother."

Immediately, Ashley shot up out of her chair.

"I'm Ashley and this is my husband Andros… Er, how's Mack doing?"

"Still fighting for his life." Rachel sighed. "The IC was getting to me, so I decided to take a walk and remembered your daughter. She's beautiful, on both in and outside. You must be so proud of her."

"We are." Andros replied, standing up too. "But Mack's a great person too. I'm sure many parents envy you for your son."

"Thank you. We're glad to have him" Rachel smiled a little. "Would you… Would you mind if I stay for a while?"

"No, of course not." Ashley answered.

Rachel smiled gratefully and took the chair Andros offered.

"So where are your other two children? You had a son named Ray and a month old daughter, right?"

"Yeah." Ashley replied, almost wishfully. "Ciana. They're at my brother's house were we're staying. My brother and sister-in-law are watching them since my brother and his wife both had to work today."

"It must be great to have such a helpful family."

"It is." Andros agreed.

They sat there talking for a while. Remembering the good memories they had of each other's children and just getting to know each other. Had they been looking at Aurora, they would have been the brief glowing of her necklace.

A/N: Nana, I'm not going to tell you what that's all about until Phantom helps me out with this certain character. So if you really want to know, you know where you need to be. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review.


	17. Chapter 16

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: I decided I'd just change the chapter so I could use it now. :P I still need his description though, I think he'll be back._

_**Jenny**: Sorry, sorry, sorry, I thought you just put one last name in! Yay, you were babbling again! Nope Gwyn wasn't talking to Hean earlier, I guess it would be one of that twin too, just don't know who._

_**Ghostwriter**: I hate spoilers too, that's why I try to keep my mouth shut as best as I can, sometimes even Jenny doesn't know what I'm going to do!_

_**Arwennicole**: Take all the time you need! I'll be waiting!_

_**DizneeDol**: Yay, you liked._

_**The-power-of-love**: Okay, I won't even go to how big that was in my mailbox, it would hurt Jenny's feelings and I have to keep working with her since my fried brains can't go look for another beta-reader even if I wanted one:P_

_**TrueRomantic**: The reason for the glowy necklace can be found in this chapter. Though I don't think many people will realise. NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN, OR IT'LL BE THE LAST TIME I GIVE AWAY ANYTHING:P No, please, put the pressure on! Jenny wants me to write slower so she can get a break!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 16**

"Who are you?" Aurora asked the figure standing in the shadows of the forest.

"That's not important." The figure replied – he, she could only assume it was a 'he' thanks to his voice, shifted slightly and she could tell he looked uncomfortable here.

"Maybe not to you." She retorted back after finished her examination of what she could see.

"Look." The figure sighed. "You might want to listen to me. Your boyfriend is dieing!" he added.

"Mack?" Aurora paled. "What's wrong with him? Where is he?" Thinking that over for a while, she added, "On that thought, where am I?"

"I don't know where you are… but I do know what's wrong with him. That car crash you were in, it hurt him badly. You're both in a coma right now, but he's in the IC. You got your whole family worried though, but you'll be fine."

"You said Mack was dieing." Aurora inquired, tears filling her eyes.

"Yes, and you can save him."

"How, tell me, I'll do anything!" Aurora begged.

"Your individual powers of the Zodiac rangers. Yours is sharing your power. You can infuse other rangers with it, giving them a power boost. Besides that you can probe non- rangers with the power.

"If you probe Mack with the power, not too much, just a bit is enough, it will protect him and it will slowly heal him, but someone on your team can help. I'm just not allowed to tell you who."

"How does that help Mack?" Aurora asked softly, now the tears were slowly running down her eyes.

"How do I do that if I'm in a coma?" Aurora exclaimed desperately, seeing more flaws in this plan than she would have liked.

"Concentrate on his presence and send a small ball of the power to him as if you're sending him a telepathic message. That's how your powers were explained to me anyway. I'm not sure if it'll work."

"But Mack doesn't have a telepathic presence." Aurora cried.

"Yes he does, just relax and concentrate."

Aurora tried to do as he said and started searching her mind, eyes closed. Her eyes shot open in surprise when she indeed found a new presence in the back of her mind. One she never noticed before.

Slowly she concentrated on her powers, forming a small ball of power and pushed it towards the presence. After a while the power suddenly disappeared. It shocked her at first.

"You did it." The figure smiled.

How she knew he smiled she didn't know, she just knew.

"Thank you." She whispered. "How can I ever thank you?"

"You will… one day." The figure replied, turning away.

"Wait, don't go yet. Please… What's your name? Who are you? Wh-Where do you come from?" Aurora nearly begged, desperate to know more about this strange person who had just saved the life of her love.

He completed his turn, his back now facing her and he started walking, fading with every step he took until there was nothing there anymore. Sighing Aurora turned a full circle, trying to find some way out, knowing she'd never know who he was. Then a soft breeze picked up.

"Kirl." The wind seemed to whisper, before the world started to swirl together.

It started to swirl faster and faster, making her want to puke. She quickly closed her eyes. After a while she carefully opened an eye. The swirling had almost stopped, at least slowed enough for her to feel comfortable watching again.

When the swirling stopped and the world reformed, she gasped when she realised she was standing in the front garden of their house, only it didn't look like their house. Shooting a quick look through the windows, she found it completely empty.

She turned to look down the road when she heard a car engine. A small moving van was coming her way and she spotted a red Kia Sportage closely following it. When they pulled up into the driveway, they didn't seem to see her.

A smile appeared on her face when her parents got out of their car.

"Oh god, Andros, it's gorgeous! How in the world were you able to pay for this?" Her mother exclaimed happily, hugging her dad.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Her father teased. "So, like your graduation present?"

"Oh, I love it." Ashley exclaimed, hugging her husband one last time before opening the door to the back seat.

It didn't take long before she straightened, holding a three-year-old girl in her arms, making Aurora smiled as she recognized herself.

"Like it, sweetheart?"

The girl didn't reply. Andros walked over and stole her out of Ashley's arms.

"Oh, come on Angel." He coaxed. "Just wait until you see your new room."

"I don't wanna move." Little Aurora whispered, causing Andros to hug her tight.

"Moving is never much fun at first." He agreed. "But once we get settled in, you'll see this is a great place to live. There are a lot of kids your age here, more than in Angel Grove and who wouldn't want to be friends with you?"

He slightly tickled the girl as he said that and soon her happy shrieks filled the air, making both Andros and Ashley laugh too.

A lone tear rolled down Aurora's cheek as she remembered the time she had been only child. They really had been a happy little family back then and her parents loved her more than anything. Then she thought of Ray and Ciana and she knew, no matter what, she'd never want to lose the two.

She just hoped she would wake up soon. She didn't even want to think about what her family was going through right now.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Please review.


	18. Chapter 17

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Necroblade**: That's okay, really I know how annoying school can be._

_**Juzblue**: He has a name. :P No real side-effects. Can't having Aurora waking up soon, sorry, at least, not chapter wise. You know in 17 chapters only 1 ½ days passed._

_**Jenny!**: I came on, didn't I? I was on my room trying to find things to take with me on vacation for if it rains! I DON'T WANT ANOTHER BETA-READER! Okay, so you want a babbling topic? Babble about what could've happened to the A-squad or if one of them was related to A/A's offspring as in the kid of the kid of the kid of A/A. (maybe one 'the kid of' taken from it.)_

_**The-power-of-love**: Always._

_**Arwennicole**: For my great fans I'm always willing to update soon._

_**DizneeDol**: Glad you liked._

_**TrueRomantic**: Yeah, they really should find a cure for Tommyitis. Yeah, you got it, the necklace glowed because of that._

_**Melissa**: Sorry, no slowing down. I'll be on vacation soon, so you and Jenny will have a rest._

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you liked it. Catch ya on the flip side._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 17**

Zhane looked through the kitchen door into the backyard.

'_Jeff's backyard.'_ He reminded himself, still stunned to know the guy brought up the courage to make up with his sister.

Raindrops were happily hitting the window in a quick, fast tempo. It had started raining about half an hour ago, but it didn't seem to bother his nephew. Ever since Andros and Ashley had left to visit Aurora, Ray had been in the garden.

He was dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a red wife beater, his feet bare. The cold and rain didn't seem to effect him even the slightest as he went through a slow kata that seemed to go on for hours to no end.

It didn't seem right in Zhane's eyes. An eleven-year-old boy already having such a burden on his shoulders to be that serious. It was as if he was watching Andros all over again.

Then cries of an infant caught his attention. His baby niece had obviously just woken up from her nap. The cries slowly gained strength and moments later Karone entered the kitchen, holding their niece who was obviously trying to scream her lungs out. Ciana didn't cry much, but when she did…

"Here, you hold her while I'll make her a bottle." Karone ordered, handing the screaming infant over to him.

"The kid sure got a good pair of lungs." Zhane commented, holding his niece gingerly, never having been the one to do this with his children.

The bottle was warmed in no time and Karone handed it to him - obviously he was to feed the baby in his arms. Sighing he tried to get Ciana to drink, but had no such luck. Obviously the kid wasn't hungry, or didn't want to be fed.

After about five minutes Jake and Sarah entered the kitchen.

"Why doesn't she stop crying?" Jake asked slightly annoyed.

"See needs to be fed, but won't drink." Zhane explained exasperatedly.

"Can I try?" Sarah asked, holding out her arms for the baby.

Zhane sighed and walked into the living room, ignoring the outstretched hands. Motioning for the kids to follow him, he pointed to the couch and the two sat down. He handed Sarah Ciana and the bottle and the girl tried to feed her baby niece, having as much luck as he had – which was basically none. Karone entered the room to and watched them.

After a while Jake reached out and took Ciana and the bottle from his sister. When he failed to get her to drink too, Karone tried. Ciana stayed stubborn and just kept crying. For another 15 minutes, Ciana and the bottle were passed around as the rain started to pour down faster, heavier, and depressingly.

Finally Zhane had enough of it. He handed Ciana and the bottle to Karone again and walked back into the kitchen. He opened the back door and took a deep breath.

"RAY!"

The boy stopped his kata and turned to look at his uncle slowly, a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

"Come in for a second, will you?"

Reluctantly Ray walked inside, dripping wet. When Zhane closed the door behind him, his sister's cries registered. Without a word he looked at Zhane curiously.

"She's hungry but won't drink." Zhane explained, clearly about to loose it.

"Shall I try?" Ray replied innocently.

"That was my plan, but put some dry clothes on first, okay?"

"Sure." Ray answered, dashing into the hall and up the stairs.

Within five minutes Ray came back down, dry clothes on and a towel hang over his shoulder. His hair was a bit messy, but much drier and it didn't drip anymore. His feet were still bare though.

Grinning madly he walked over to Jake whom now held Ciana and held out his hands. Unsure this would actually work, Jake handed the baby and the bottle to her big brother. The moment the bottle nipple entered her mouth again, Ciana quieted and happily started to suck on it.

Four mouths dropped open.

"How?" Zhane demanded.

"Ciana can be very stubborn about who is to feed her sometimes." Ray explained. "Mom says she probably got that from dad."

Zhane looked stunned for a moment and slowly he started to laugh. Soon Karone, Sarah and Jake joined him. Ray smiled, looking down at his sister again, who was still happily sucking on her bottle.

"Slow down, silly." He told her softly, a real smile on his face. "You'll burp it all out again if you continue like this."

Ciana stopped drinking for a moment and looked at him with wide eyes, before he lost her interest again and she continued drinking, not slowing down even a little.

Ray chuckled and let her. Knowing she was too stubborn to do something about it. She'd just have to learn the hard way.

A/N: A happy fluffy chapter in the midst off all the gloom. See, it's not all bad! Hope you liked it. Review!


	19. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: Avine is Jenny's. She thought of it for me after I begged her, since I seriously can't make good monsters._

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: smiles_

_**Jenny**: WHERE ARE MY FUNNY STORIES! YOU PROMISED YOU'D SEND THEM! I don't believe Rosa's on vacation, but her parents think she plays too much games, so she can't get on the computer too much. Well, if you're wood ever again, you know what you can write now. :P Subconcious is so dead._

_**DizneeDol**: Glad you liked it. Hope you enjoy this chapter too._

_**TrueRomantic**: Yeah, well Ciana is as stubborn as Andros when it comes to that and I'll tell you Andros' stubbornness in his kids will return in Chapter 20._

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you liked._

_**Gobball**: Jenny thinks you're scary. I like that shirt though. :P_

_**The-power-of-love**: YAY!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 18**

Days slowly crept by. Ray's kata in the rain had resulted in him getting a fever and he was now confined to bed. Ciana was still being a bother about who fed her, so Andros and Ashley reluctantly went to visit Aurora separately, in case Ciana was hungry and they had to feed her.

An uncomfortable feeling had slowly been creeping up on Kayla. Something was wrong, but she just couldn't identify what it was. It took until Wednesday for the Gemini ranger to find out what it was.

She was walking home from school with Dakota and took a shortcut through the park, enjoying the fresh air. Unfortunately, their free time was destroyed as the sounds of fighting got their attention.

"What's going on?" Dakota demanded, looking at his sister.

"Let's go find out."

Their ranger instincts kicking in, the two dropped their bags and ran in the direction of the noise. They noticed the team had morphed in their armoured modes and were fighting a black ninja. Kayla noticed some civilians close by and the ninja must have noticed too, for it started striking down the rangers and slowly making her way in the direction of the civilian. Catching Dakota's eyes, they both nodded at once.

"Zodiac power up, Gemini armoured mode!" They called in unison.

Once morphed they moved between the ninja and the civilians. Kayla gave the ninja a quick look over and gasped. Her robes were pitch black. A badge was attached to the robes, displaying a four-way symbol - typhoon and vine wrapped around lightning bolt with flames dancing upwards. A cloak that was shrouded in shadow softly waved behind her on a non-existing wind.

"Who are you?" Kayla demanded, but her voice wavered a little.

"_Something wrong?"_ Her brother immediately mentally asked her.

"_This is the monster from my nightmare."_ Kayla's mental voice sounded weak and shaken up.

"My name is Avine, ruler of the four avatars." The ninja replied, approaching them. "And I'm here to destroy you."

A chill ran down Kayla's spine and suddenly a violet light appeared before her and Dakota. A small sigh of relief escaped her lips when Chaitlin appeared, fully armoured. Maybe they could do this.

**Angel Grove**

Ray tossed and turned in his sleep, sweat droplets slowly crawling down his face.

_**Dream**_

_Ray looked around. He stood somewhere in a dessert. His eyes widened when a small beaten black truck came his way. He was nailed to the ground in fear as the truck came straight towards him. As it came closer, Ray suddenly noticed the scratches by the smashed right front. The silver streaks clearly stood out against the black of the truck._

_Silver. Mack's car was silver before it had been completely totalled by some… some drunk driver. A tear ran down his face._

"_Aurora." He whispered._

_He glanced at the driver and shock ran through him as he noticed a ninja behind the wheel. Automatically he took a step back. He was too late to close his eyes as the truck hit him._

_His eyes widened even further when it drove right through him and started to fall. The ninja that had been behind the wheel now stood right in front of him, looking down, not even noticing he was there._

_He too looked down and almost screamed. There was no ground beneath his feet, only a two-mile drop plummeting to a rocky death. As he watched the truck hit the ground in a big explosion and suddenly it all made sense to him. He was hovering above Angel's bluff and that truck had just crashed into Mack's car. This was the past._

"_Good job, Avine. With Cancer out of the way, the rangers are weak." A voice spoke, making Ray's head to snap up._

_A cloaked figure had now joined the ninja._

"_It was nothing master- like playing with babies… weak, defenceless babies." Avine sneered, curling her fingers in a tight fist._

_Suddenly the scene changed and he was standing in the park of Crystal Springs, Avine was fighting two groups of rangers. Pure white-hot anger flowed through him and he knew he had to make her pay for what she had done to his sister._

_**End Dream**_

Ray shot up in bed, breathing hard.

"Calm down, Ray. It was only a dream." He heard his mom's voice tried to calm him down, but he didn't hear it.

Quickly he pushed the covers aside and got out of bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ashley demanded.

He ignored his mother.

"Zodiac power up, Libra, armoured mode!" He cried before teleporting out to the cries of dismay from his mother.

**Crystal Springs**

Kayla watched in horror as Ray was stuck down by Avine. Her dream was coming true after all. She had done everything in her power to get to Ray, but when she finally managed to break free, it was too late and Ray was down on the ground, but there was no blood this time.

Avine slowly raised her sword to deliver the killing blow.

Kayla let out a scream when the sword swept down…

A/N: Told you I loved cliffies! Hope you liked it. REVIEW!


	20. Chapter 19

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: Nope, I decided not to go with the drunk driver after all._

_**Ghostwriter**: Here is more. Catch ya on the flip side._

_**Jenny**: Hey hey, whada ya say, subconscious lives another day. darn But you didn't babble a lot! Just enough to keep your precious subconscious alive!_

_**DizneeDol**: Continued. Now you just got to wait the next story break out._

_**TrueRomantic**: Poor Ray? Yeah, I guess. You'll be happy with this chapter. Now your Tommyitis won't be a problem anymore._

_**Melissa**: You might wanna start actually READING the story if you don't wanna be confused anymore._

_**The-power-of-love**: What would I do without your love for my stories?_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 19**

The sword rushed down to deliver the killing blow, but just before it hit target, the sound of swords clashing against each other rang through the air.

"Not this time." A voice growled, pushing away the sword.

A lighting bolt shaped sword was swung between Ray and Avine's sword. A ranger in bright yellow armour wielded the sword. Her visor was shaped like a lightning bolt as well. The chest of her armour displayed a pentagram, on each point a different element was expressed in a circle; a red flame for fire, blue waves for water, a green leaf for plants, a black rock for ground and a yellow lighting bolt for electricity, in the middle of the pentagram a white circle was placed, no element seemed to be expressed what so ever.

"Who are you?" Avine demanded, obviously angry.

"Non of your concern." The ranger replied, coolly, relaxing her sword hand only slightly. "You'll be destroyed in a minute anyway."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Avine shot back, raising her sword again, this time to attack the ranger.

She lifted her sword to counter, minutes slowly ticked away as they danced around, sabres clanging, light reflected around. Avine was a good swords fighter, but as time went on, the ranger started to gain the advantage. Suddenly thunderclouds began to gather high up in the sky.

"Lei-zi, goddess of thunder and Tain-mu, goddess of lighting, hear my calls. Share with me your powers and stand by me to defeat this enemy!" The ranger suddenly called, pointing her sword straight up in the sky.

A lightning bolt came thundering down and stuck the sword, but instead of killing the ranger, like it should have, she started to glow, crackling with electricity. When she seemed to have collected enough power, she pointed the sword to Avine, who hadn't moved for a while, too stunned as she watched what was happening.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the ranger released the energy, striking Avine. She let out a scream, before she disappeared into nothingness.

"Who… Who are you?" Ray coughed, still lying on the ground demorphed.

Suddenly Kayla demorphed and run to her cousin, Dakota not far behind. Together they helped him stand, but kept him firmly up between them. It was obvious the combination of the fight and him being sick had drained him and he could hardly keep himself up anymore.

"It doesn't matter." The ranger replied shortly, turning around to go away. "I have to go."

The words seemed to enrage Ray, with the adrenaline accompanying the anger he pulled himself out of his cousins' arms and suddenly his blaster appeared in his hands pointed at the ranger. Kayla and Dakota followed his example, Chaitlin joining only seconds later. They were all glad they didn't have to be morphed to have call upon their weapons, since none of them were morphed anymore. The sound of the weapons charging made her turn back.

"You're not going anywhere." Ray growled. "You may have saved my life, but you could very well have done it to win our trust only to stab our backs. Now demorph and show us who you are!"

"I can't." The ranger replied, making every move to leave.

"Wrong answer." Ray replied and pulled the trigger.

The ranger disappeared in a ball of electricity for a moment, moving out of the way of the blast. The blast missed it and connected with a tree. Then the ranger reappeared – you could almost see a smirk on her face.

"YOU! Why not show yourself if you've shown yourself before? Rosa." Ray spat. "If that is really your name."

"No…" She agreed. "It isn't. But I can't tell you what it is, you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me." Ray shot back.

The ranger shook her head and sighed.

"You've got to trust me, Ray. I'm not here to hurt anyone."

"I don't have to trust anyone and I don't trust anyone but my family, the only people who seemed to have proven to be worthy of my trust."

"Hean's going to kill me." The ranger muttered, a bright yellow glow surrounded her.

When the glow disappeared, a girl about his age appeared. Soft brown hair flowed down to her shoulders and her clothes obviously a ranger uniform, but her eyes were what caught his attention. The colour seemed familiar, like he'd seen them many times before, but he couldn't place it.

"Ae ù-esteliach nad…" She spoke, her voice flowing around him. "Estelio han… Estelio hammen."

"If you trust nothing else…" Ray whispered, too soft for anyone to hear. "Trust this. Trust us…"

Suddenly it drew on him and his eyes widened. The girl in front of him, the eyes. He did know them and he looked in them many times and the words… Ancient Karovan, the ancient Karovan only few people knew, the ancient Karovan that warned Aurora evil had returned, the ancient Karovan in Aurora's song 'May it be'.

"Ciana…" He whispered, this time loud enough for it to be carried to his cousins and the girl.

Then his feet gave way, all his energy drained. He fell to the ground, unconscious. No one moved for a moment. All Chaitlin, Dakota and Kayla could do was stare at the girl Ray claimed to be his month old sister.

**Angel Grove Memorial**

A patient suddenly shot up in her bed, shocking her father sitting guard and the doctor and nurse checking up on her.

"RAY!"

A/N: HA! It was easy, you all could've known! I swear. What did ya think? Hope you liked it. REVIEW!

**I'll be on vacation for a week, so you'll have to wait for the next update until the 12th. I'M EVILY EVIL, I KNOW IT AND I'M PROUD OF IT!**


	21. Chapter 20

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Juzblue**: Yeah, that was Ciana. Didn't see that coming, did you? Glad you like her powers, just wait until I put up the chapter where she actually tells about her team._

_**Ghostwriter**: Thanks, I had a blast! Catch ya on the flip side._

_**TrueRomantic**: Well, Aurora didn't really wake up to protect her baby brother, that's not necessary anymore since their baby sister is doing it for her. I'll try sending the files some other way. Have fun._

_**DizneeDol**: Well, you've been patient enough for this one. (I hope, you're not in a mental hospital reading this, are you? If you are, try and get a transfer, you could come keep me company.)_

_**JENNY!**: PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD! I'D DIE! Wait, no I won't. I'd just have to find a new beta-reader. Maybe phantom is interested? Cool, I've got myself a servant! Subconscious: if you ever do something for me do it slow and chaotic! Demon equals chaos, I equal HAVOC! Maybe that's why I love thunderstorms so much? That would probably be the reason Ciana controls it too. Can't wait to write a chapter with a thunderstorm where Ciana doesn't cry, but desperately tries to catch it, fails and THEN starts crying because the can't hold the thunder (yet)! If you're starving: go eat._

_**Necroblade**: That's okay. School sucks. Yay! You didn't expect Ciana! I'm getting good at this! I LOVE BEING EVIL::nurse runs over with drugs: NO! NO MORE SEDATIVES! PLEASE! I'M FINE! I SWEAR!_

_**Arwennicole**: I'm still alive, aren't I? Wait, don't answer that, I'm not sure I ever was alive… Hope you had a fun vacation, I know mine was worth the trouble of packing and unpacking._

_**Phantom Rogue**: Sparks are fun! FIRE IS FUNNER::new nurse comes running over: NO MORE DRUGS! I'M NOT A PHYROMANIC! (whispers: yet) CAN'T YOU PEOPLE JUST LET ME BE CRAZY IN PEACE? About the actual story review: I know you knew! I told you! That was indeed supposed to be a cliffy. No there's no one else in hospital who knows Ray, but… I WOKE HER UP AND THEN I DIDN'T UPDATE FOR A WEEK! That's what's so evil about it! Nope, I'm not confused! I've got Bridge-itis! I live to confuse myself, but you can't confuse me! HA!_

_**Demon Child From Hell**: I'M NOT GOING TO KILL MACK! Subconscious, I've got a job for you: KILL!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 20**

"I'm fine." Aurora assured. "Please let me go to my brother."

"I'm sorry, Miss Hammond, but you just woke up from a coma. We can't let you go." The doctor replied.

"But there's nothing wrong with me. I'm absolutely fine." Aurora protested.

"We can't let you go." The doctor repeated firmly.

"Dad." Aurora whined. "Please get me out of here."

"Your father can't get you out, only us doctors can." The doctor said, cutting of any reply Andros might have given.

"But I'm allergic to sterile air." Aurora shot back.

"You were fine for five days." The doctor retorted.

"It's a genetic mental allergy." Aurora tried desperately. "My mom has it too."

"There's no such thing." The doctor stood his ground.

"You just haven't discovered it yet!" Aurora exclaimed.

"Now, now, there's no need for yelling."

"I'm FINE!" Aurora yelled. "I need to get to my brother!"

"YOU ARE NOT FINE!" The doctor nearly yelled back. "YOU CAN'T WAKE UP FROM A COMA AND BE JUST FINE!"

"TRY ME!" Aurora shot back, her anger mounting.

"You are not getting out of here until I give you a clear." The doctor said, trying very hard to keep his temper under control.

"Well, just see about that." Aurora muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" The doctor tried to ask nicely.

"Nothing, jerk. Just let me out of here." Aurora replied, folding her arms and legs and started at the doctor hard.

"I can't let you out." The doctor tried to reason with his patient.

"I'll hold my breath until you do." Aurora threatened.

"That doesn't scare me."

Aurora took a deep breath and then stopped breathing, slowly her face started to turn red.

"You'll never be able to hold your breath long enough." The doctor laughed lightly.

Minutes ticked by and Aurora didn't restart breathing, her face was now turning an ugly shade of purplish blue.

"If you keep that up, you won't be able to go to your brother because you'll have suffocated, not to mention that boy you were in the car with."

Reluctantly Aurora had to admit he had a point. She wasn't really helping herself out of here by killing herself. Deciding to try another approach, Aurora started breathing again.

"See, I knew we would come to an understanding."

"With you?" Aurora breathed. "NEVER! LET ME OUT!"

"Aurora, calm down." Andros coaxed, noticing her necklace started to glow. _"Knowing you, you'll be out of here in no time, but there's no need for calling on the power to do so."_

"_Oops."_ Aurora replied, looking slightly sheepishly.

After some quick thinking a wicked smile appeared on her face and she pushed the covers away. Then she slid out of bed and jumped to her feet.

"Well, it was fun staying here, though I don't remember much, but I really got to go now. See you later."

Whatever the doctor had expected, this surely wasn't it. Aurora was nearly out the door of the room, before he grabbed her upper arm.

"Hey!" Aurora cried and spun around furiously, slapping the doctor's hand away.

It was obvious the doctor had been surprised by the sheer strength Aurora was able to muster after being in a coma for five days.

"Don't ever do that again." Aurora growled, obviously pissed off.

"You can't just walk out of here!" The doctor growled back, having lost his patience.

"We'll just see about that!" Aurora yelled. "I'm out of here!"

With that a red/yellow light surrounded her and she disappeared. The doctor was staring wide-eyed and with an open mouth at the point Aurora had just stood seconds ago. Trying not to laugh, Andros slowly edged backwards, hoping to leave the room unnoticed.

A/N: Fun chapter. Hope you liked it. Review.


	22. Chapter 21

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Jenny**: Subconscious! I meant go kill Rosa's Demon brother, NOT RANDOM PEOPLE!_

_**Melissa**: Aurora loves her brother dearly and wants to protect him form harm. :P_

_**The-power-of-love**: YAY!_

_**Arwennicole**: Nah, Ray's not that bad, she'll get to him. Just read and find out._

_**DizneeDol**: Glad you liked it!_

_**Angel-of-light91**: I hoped people would have fun with that fight._

_**Juzblue**: Gotta love Aurora showing her daddy's temper. :P_

_**Ghostwriter**: Glad you thought it was funny. Catch ya on the flip side._

_**Phantom Rogue**: I don't know why not all fathers have such daughters. EVIL, EVIL, I AM EVIL! JUST REMEMBER THAT!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 21**

Ashley sighed as she watched the purplish blue sparkles of Dakota's magic gently lower Ray on the bed. As the luminosity disappeared, she pulled the covers back over the sick boy.

"Why did he go anyway? How did he even know there was a fight?" Ashley muttered.

"Side effect of the Zodiac powers." A voice replied softly, but it still startled her.

She turned around and watched the girl standing in the door opening. She had been introduced as the future Ciana, he month old baby daughter. Her presence had been playing at the edge of her awareness for a while now and now she had let her blocks down a little, her presence indeed seemed to be similar to baby Ciana's.

"What? Know when and where a battle is?" Ashley inquired.

Everyone had been wondering about the full extent of the Zodiac powers for a while now and Ciana seemed to be the only one they could get those answers from at the moment.

"No, Ray was having a… how should I put it? … flashback in his dream. He was something involving Avine, no one ever saw. I can't tell you what he saw, that's not my place, but I can tell you he was shown Avine's whereabouts this once. He acted on that information."

"How much do you know about your powers?" Kayla asked, cocking her head.

"Sometimes I feel I know yours better than I know my own and I've had my powers for a long time."

"How long?" Dakota wanted to know, fascinated by her powers. "They're really cool."

Ciana smiled brilliantly; obviously glad her cousin liked her powers.

"I've had them for as long as I can remember."

Ashley shot a nervous glance at the closed door behind Ciana, where her baby self was enjoying her nap.

"Did anyone ever tell you when your powers started showing?" Ashley asked weakly.

"You guys say I was about one and a half when it first started, but Uncle Zhane swears I zapped him long before that."

"Your Uncle Zhane does not do his name any honour." Ashley replied.

Ciana laughed softly. Just then the doorbell rang and baby Ciana started crying, her wails quite evident from behind the door.

"Great." Ashley muttered. "Just what we needed."

"Shall I get her?" Ciana suggested.

"You do that, I'll get the door and you three stay here in case Ray wakes up, which I highly doubt… but you never know with Andros' kids." Ashley sighed and left the room.

Ciana smiled at the comment about her father and entered the guestroom behind her. Her much younger self was screaming her lungs out for being disturbed in her sleep. Ciana edged closer to the crib and her smile brightened.

"Hey kiddo." She greeted. "Now listen up, there are two ways to do this and knowing me, you'll pick the hard way, but if you don't stop crying, you'll wake up your big brother and he really needs his rest right now."

Ciana's cries turned into whimpering and the other girl smiled, picking the baby up.

"Andros!" She heard Ashley exclaim. "Weren't you in hospital?"

She saw the younger versions of her cousins run out of the room to the stairs and she decided to follow, her baby self still in her arms, whimpering.

"Aurora woke up and after a fight with the doctor she teleported out." Andros' voice replied. "I tried to tell you, but you were blocking. Isn't she here?"

"Fight? No, why?"

"Okay, shouting match. Something about Ray freaked her out."

"He drained himself during the battle and after." Chaitlin replied. "He's asleep upstairs."

"Then where's…"

Andros got interrupted as ranger Ciana caught his eye the same moment Aurora chose to teleport in, fully dressed.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"Aurora!" Ashley exclaimed, followed by her nephew and nieces as she pulled her daughter into an embrace.

"Mom." Aurora replied, nuzzling into her mother's embrace for a moment. "Where's Ray?"

Ashley pointed to the stairs and when Aurora turned around, she noticed the strange girl holding her sister.

"Who are you?" She demanded, fire in her eyes and ready to save her sister at the wrong answer.

Ciana shifted uncomfortably under her sister's intense gaze, even Hean couldn't make her feel this uneasy.

"I'm her." Ciana replied softly. "I'm your baby sister when she's Ray's age. I'm from the future."

"That can't be." Aurora shot back, but didn't make a move.

"Ray seemed to believe after she said something in a strange language." Chaitlin offered tentatively, not sure where she stood with Aurora.

"It's not strange, you just don't understand it, not many can." Ciana answered, turning to Aurora. "Estilio han."

"That's only part of what you told Ray." Dakota noticed.

"So we'll need to find you another name, cause two Cianas gets confusing, even though one is a baby.

"My team calls me Gwyn." Ciana offered.

"Team?"

"I'll explain later."

A/N: HA! Finished. Hope you liked it. Review!


	23. Chapter 22

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Necroblade**: Glad you like it._

_**DizneeDol**: Always!_

_**Jenny**: You're dad probably is a better cook than mine, since mine doesn't cook! Rosa's demon is a brick wall? COOL!_

_**Phantom Rogue**: Meeting my future/past self. Now that would be cool! Lucky for Ciana she's a baby and won't remember meeting her future self, now that would be bad! Of course she'll be told all about it by everyone._

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 22**

Aurora propped herself on the edge of Ray's bed and stroked a few hairs from his face. Then an idea popped into her head and she made a power probe, praying it would work. Pushing the probe to Ray's presence, she noticed both her and his necklaces started to glow for a second. When the glow faded, Ray's eyes fluttered open.

"Aurora?" he murmured weakly, eyes blearily blinking.

"That's my name, don't wear it out. Now sit up so I can give you a proper hug."

"Aurora!" Ray exclaimed happily, fully waking up and sitting to hug his sister. "I just had the _strangest_ dream. There was some ninja named Avine behind the wheel of that truck that hit you and she was fighting the rangers and I went to help, but she struck me down and I demorphed, but when she brought down her sword to kill me this yellow ranger showed up, saving my life and defeated Avine and then she turned out to be Ciana and… and…"

"That was no dream, Ray." Gwyn interrupted, staring at Aurora intensely.

"Ciana." Ray breathed, catching sight of the girl that saved his life. "You're really here.'

"We've dubbed her Gwyn, since two Cianas gets confusing." Aurora explained, still not taking her eyes of her brother.

Ray smiled and nodded, noticing Gwyn had yet to stop looking at Aurora.

"Something wrong?" He asked, fear rising as if an ice-cold iron hand had taken hold of his heart.

"No, it's just…" Gwyn started, looking hesitant. "How did you know how to do that, Rora? That could _not_ have been accidentally… and you shouldn't have known about your special abilities of the Zodiac powers yet."

Aurora turned to look at her, her eyes searching as if to see if she should tell her or not. A small rush of relief ran through Gwyn when she opened her mouth.

"While I was out, I was seeing these flashbacks and in one of them this guy came to me. He told me Mack was dying and I was the only one who could help. He told me I could probe my power and share it with others. He told me if I probed Mack, the power would heal him, saving his life."

"Did he tell you his name by any chance?"

"No." Aurora sighed. "But there was a wind that seemed to be saying something sounding like 'Curl'."

"KIRL!" Gwyn exclaimed, an expression of mixed emotions flashed over her face.

"Yeah, that's it. You know him?" Aurora inquired.

"He can make the wind talk, like I can with the thunder. Not many people listen closely enough to hear the message. I'm surprised you read it." Gwyn muttered, rubbing her forehead angrily.

"So you know him?" Aurora pressed.

"Know him?" Gwyn snorted. "School system's going to be a lot different by the time I turn 10. I shared a room with him for a year. He's one of my two closest friends and our spare ranger. Controls the element of air."

"You promised me you'd tell me about your team." Aurora reminded, getting more curious by the minute.

"Maybe it's better if we'd go downstairs so everyone can hear and I only need to tell once." Gwyn sighed, though she wore a small smile on her face. "You might want to take those covers with you, Ray. I know you too well to know you won't stay up here waiting for Aurora to relay it to you."

Ray smiled and scrambled out of bed as fast as he could. Aurora grabbed the covers and draped them around his shoulders. The three quickly made their way downstairs. Flashes of relief crossed everyone's faces when they noticed Ray.

"You should be in bed, young man." Ashley tried to tell her son off sternly, but failed miserably.

"But Gwyn's going to tell about her team." Ray argued.

When Ashley just smiled, she dropped down next to her on the couch were she was sitting next to Andros and he leaned against her. Aurora dropped down next to Andros, shooting a look and smile at her, now sleeping again, baby sister whom lay curled up in her father's arms.

Gwyn let herself dropped to the ground on the spot, folding her legs in the process.

"Okay." She started, taking a deep breath. "With my team I of course meant my ranger team. It's back to six rangers again, though we started out with the 'normal' five. I guess it all started when I met Kirl, our spare ranger, kinda like uncle Zhane…"

A/N: HA, you'll have to wait for Gwyn's story! Hope you liked it. Review.


	24. Chapter 23

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Phantom Rogue**: Nope, stalling is fun! Why Andros and Ashley even bother? To make it look like they're actually trying to raise their kids instead of letting them raise themselves._

_**Jenny**: YOU KILLED ME! To make it up to me, you need to write TWO failed attempts of subconscious to kill Rosa's Demon, or something bad will happen to you._

_**DizneeDol**: Glad you liked it. This soon enough?_

_**Arwennicole**: It's okay for the late reviews and typing error, I know of them too. :P_

_**Melissa**: You're going to reread it? Wow! You're great! Yes, the killing threat was a good one, but I believe I've heard it many times before. :P_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 23**

Everyone in the living room watched Gwyn intently. They really wanted to know how the future looked like, even if it had been changed.

"Okay, so I met Kirl in school when I was eight. He was the first full blood alien in our class and since I was the only other with alien blood, we instantly got along and soon became friends. Kirl's half Karovan too - from his mom's side, his father was Eltaran. He was four when his father died and he moved to KO-35, four years later he and his mother moved to Earth because Blaecleah was getting more and more power and Earth had an active ranger team." Gwyn sighed. "He's the second eldest of our team and controls the element of air, our spare ranger."

"What about the others?" Chaitlin asked.

"Before I can tell about them, I'll need to explain this new sucking school system the government thought of. All kids from the age of 10 have to go to this kind of boarding school until they go to college. They live in these small bungalows with, at the most, five others. One of those schools is going to be build just outside of Crystal Springs, kids from as far as Angel Grove get sent there."

"Cool!" Dakota commented. "No parents breathing down your neck!"

Gwyn giggled.

"It's fun… but I'm glad it's close to home so I can drop by whenever I want."

"I second that." Andros muttered, looking down at the sleeping baby in his arms.

He didn't even want to thing of sending Ciana to a boarding school.

"Anyway, it's there we met the other team members, at least, the first three. Kirl and I were relieved to find out we were assigned to the same bungalow and with that bit of reassurance we set off. We found we were sharing with two kids our age, Jayane and Jarreth, a twin, they ended up being our classmates too, and Hean, he's a year older than Kirl. At first Hean scared us a little, he had this strange aura around him and we stayed out of his way as much as possible, so he ended up having one of the three bedrooms all for himself. The twin didn't want to be separated, so Kirl and I shared a room too. It wasn't long before we figured out we all had one thing in common, we could all control an 'element'. Hean could control fire, Jarreth could control the ground and Jayane could control the plants. Hean opened up a little and we all became friends. Hean turned out to be of half-alien half-human blood too and lived on Dragoria with his family until he was 9. His human mother became homesick, so they moved to Earth. Jarreth and Jayane are the only two full blood Earth humans on our team."

"What about the last ranger?" Kayla asked.

"Viathe." Gwyn answered with a smile. "A new year brought new kids and new kids meant we needed to share our bungalow with someone new. It also meant Hean was going to have to share a room with Kirl or Jarreth. He ended up deciding Kirl would be the least annoying, so I ended up sharing a room with Viathe. The others thought it was funny, the two youngest sharing a room. The stupidest thing we ever did was keep our powers from her."

"Why?" Aurora asked curiously.

Gwyn sniggered.

"Because she had them too. She found out when we were planning to go on a camping trip one weekend and dark clouds hang in the sky that morning. Hean asked me if I could banish them, but it weren't thunderclouds, so I couldn't. Viathe asked what I was doing, so I reluctantly told her and, to our surprise, she did it for us. You can imagine our shock."

"Fun!" Ray exclaimed. "So, do you use your powers for rangering only?"

"We should, yeah, but…" Gwyn replied, a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

"I knew it!" Ray laughed.

"Who corrupted you?" Andros demanded, though unable to keep a grin off his face.

"Ray and Aurora did." Gwyn answered, also smiling. "They also taught me how to fight, at first behind your backs. When you found out, we kept whining until you finally give them permission to continue."

"Sounds like them alright." Ashley laughed. "They can be very annoying if they don't get their way. Just like their father."

Andros just smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Baby Ciana shifted a little at the change of grip, but kept on sleeping.

"Hey, Gwyn?" Aurora suddenly asked.

"Yeah?"

"You said only that twin were of full Earth human blood and you told us about all your teammates' heritages, but you didn't tell us Viathe's."

"Oops; Viathe is Aquitian, but she's got a human grandfather."

"Billy." Andros and Ashley said at the same time.

Gwyn nodded and smiled. Maybe, this would go right after all. Just then a beeping noise came from the hallway and she immediately recognized it. She paled a little, hoping it was someone who would understand why she did it…

A/N: Hope you liked it. Review.


	25. Chapter 24

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Phantom Rogue**: Well, I answered your question about Viathe being Billy's granddaughter already. Boarding school is fun, but I'd miss my mommy too much. :P Beeping noise? What beeping noise:P_

_**Juzblue**: Why does everyone keep apologize for missing a review? It's OKAY! You reviewed this one and that makes me happy, because you're still reading! Yes, I'm planning to make a story about the Element Rangers, might be a series too._

_**Arwennicole**: Glad you like the future._

_**The-power-of-love**: Glad you liked it._

_**DizneeDol**: Well, here's my update._

_**Melissa**: I never said you needed to reread immediately!_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Chapter 24**

"What's that beeping noise coming from?" Aurora questioned.

"Um, I believe it's one of my teammates trying to contact me." Gwyn admitted.

"Why don't you answer?" Ray asked, when Gwyn didn't move.

"I'm not really supposed to let you know who I really am…" Gwyn admitted softly.

Aurora and Ray sniggered and Gwyn smiled innocently, before finally getting up and walked into the hallway. When she returned she had a beeping device in her hands. Glancing around the room for a moment, she took a deep breath and opened the connection.

"Finally!" A voice came through clearly and Gwyn visibly relaxed. "I thought you weren't going to answer – you weren't, were you?"

"Sorry Vi, I was scared you were someone else…" Gwyn replied sheepishly.

"Okay, Gwyn… what did you do this time?" The other sounded amused.

"The thing Hean kept telling me not to?" Gwyn answered innocently.

The other girl laughed melodiously.

"Kirl didn't exactly listen to him either. Hean is _furious_… it's kind of scary. I cannot believe how Kirl can stay so calm. If Hean would turn that look on me, I'd start running."

"Kirl's used to it." Gwyn sniggered.

"So are you." The other girl shot back. "But anyway, that's not what I was calling for."

"I figured." Gwyn replied, still grinning.

"How are things going back there?"

"Well, they didn't completely freak when they found out who I was and Aurora's woken up again. I believe they're okay with my cousins again…" Gwyn said, trailing off as she looked at Aurora, who, to her relief, nodded. "But the team's still split in two."

"Well, it's better than we expected… right? Anyway, what about Mack?"

"Rora claims she probed him after Kirl came to her and told her how to."

"Ah… So that's the full story on Kirl's misadventure… So are you going to tell the others about their special powers?"

"Of course! Semjara made a mistake letting them find everything out themselves. It hurt far too many people too deeply for me not to interfere."

"'Kay. I'll report it to Kirl - he can tell Hean, since he's so 'experienced' in dealing with him; I swear, that boy could give someone nightmares…"

"You do that." Gwyn laughed. "Tell the team I said hi."

"I will, later."

"Bye."

Gwyn cut the connection and smiled brightly. She could expect an angry call from Hean soon, but Kirl would make sure he'd be calmed down a bit before he'd let Hean call.

"She didn't sound too angry." Kayla commented, giggling.

"Viathe and Kirl know me too well to know this was to be expected, but I really was the only one they could send." Gwyn answered, a small grin on her face.

"Why?"

Gwyn shifted uncomfortably at that answer, immediately giving the impression she wasn't supposed to tell. Just then Ray reminded she had looked different when she had come to tell him Aurora would be all right.

"Ghosting." He muttered softly, but it carried through the whole room.

Gwyn looked at him and smiled a little.

"What's ghosting?" Dakota asked, looking seriously confused.

"Changing your looks - it's a rare genetical Karovan power." Aurora explained. "It's fun, I just never really use it. Ray doesn't either. Just, uh, don't tell anyone."

Their three cousins looked at each other and nodded. Suddenly Chaitlin grinned.

"What more are you guys hiding from us?" She asked.

"More than you'll ever believe if you don't see it." Aurora grinned back.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Review.


	26. Epilogue

_Summary: Aurora is in college, spending only her weekends and vacations in Crystal Springs. After since Andros' reunion with his children, Blaecleah kept quiet, but peace never lasts for long._

_**Phantom Rogue**: Yeah, I remembered and I did this time too! Secret powers are fun, cause you don't have to share them with anyone. Secrets in general are fun!_

_**Arwennicole**: Glad you liked it. Have fun with this chapter._

_**Necroblade**: The bad guys will make their move in the next of the series._

_**Jenny**: You still didn't write those failed attempts! Though I still love SS. :P_

_**DizneeDol**: Sorry it took a few days._

_**Melissa**: This should give you a break so you can read it all._

_**Demon Child From Hell**: Have you been taking reviewing lessons from Jenny too?_

_**The-power-of-love**: So… you hate it?_

**It Was Just The Beginning**

**Epilogue**

It was night in Crystal Springs and everyone in the Hammond household was asleep… Well, not everyone. Gwyn and Ciana were both wide-awake. The former was standing in front of the window in the nursery, next to her 'old' crib. Outside a thunderstorm was raging, but she did nothing to make it disappear. She loved the thunder, always had, ever since zapping Uncle Zhane...

Rain was pouring down as heavily as if a lake had completely dried out and was now trying to refill itself over night – a very _big_ lake. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that if it woke up Aurora and her sister noticed she wasn't laying on the cot that had been set up in Aurora's room, her big sis would come looking for her. But right now, that was the least of her worries.

Blaecleah had managed to slowly drift the Zodiac team apart. That's why she had gone back in time. She hoped she would be able to get the team back together. They needed each other. Another big mistake the team she knew had made was keeping their identities a secret, like the tradition had been on Earth. Some of the rangers had had so much trouble getting out of class they arrived just as the monster decided to become Godzilla the II – A.K.A the Zord fight, for the Zodiac did have Zords, they just didn't know it yet.

A giggle escaped her lips as she thought of a particular phone call Aurora had told her about. One that had to do with Ray, school, rangering and bathroom breaks.

Gwyn sighed. There was so much the rangers still didn't know about their powers and she was fully intent on telling them everything. As she stared down at herself for a while. Baby Ciana was gurgling happily and reached her chubby little hands up as if she was trying to catch something.

Smiling, Gwyn reached down and picked the baby girl up, softly rocking her and muttering the lullaby she remembered her mother singing to her. Ciana yawned a little, her eyes drooping and her small fists rising up to protect her face from the non-existing invading light.

"Go to sleep sweety." Gwyn murmured. "I promise you, you'll never have to face the hardship I had. You'll never have to hear Aurora cry over Mack and what could have been. You'll never have to watch Ray be all dark and depressed all the time and you are going to grow up and lead a happy life. You will follow in the footsteps of the people most important to you and become a powerful ranger together with five great friends… And you'll know of only one weakness that seems to be genetically programmed in every Hammond. You, little girl, will save the world more times than you can count."

During her little speech, Ciana had closed her eyes and her breathing had evened out into little baby snores. Gwyn smiled again and placed Ciana back in her crib, drawing the blanket back over the little girl, keeping the cold December air from reaching the precious bundle. A gift her family would forever cherish.

Then she crept out of the room and back up the stars to Aurora's. She watched her sister shift in her sleep and sighed.

"The battle has only just begun, Rora. Many tests will cross your path and that of the other rangers, but I swear, I'll make sure you are prepared this time and the emotional scars the rangers I know suffered will never exist."

With that Gwyn lay back down on the cot under the blankets and slowly drifted off to sleep, the thunder singing her a lullaby.

A/N: Sorry for the abrupt end, but I really wanted to work on this other story and I couldn't with this one running. But no fear, ending it now has secured the birth of The Zodiac Rangers Part 3: As The Battle Rages. Hope you enjoyed the story and will read my new one: Not Always The End. Please, I beg you to review.

Oh, I almost forgot. Go to Jenny's site (the link is on my site and else it's on her ID: Starlefaith, she might be so sweet as to put up the phone call Gwyn was 'talking' about.


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